<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Prison of Our Own Making by ApathyAo3</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30061749">A Prison of Our Own Making</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApathyAo3/pseuds/ApathyAo3'>ApathyAo3</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Eternal Recurrence [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Little Nightmares (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Backstory for Mono, Backstory for bullies, Before the loop, Child Death, Closure, Comics characters mentioned, Decapitation, Eye Trauma, First Meetings, Flashbacks, Frenemies, Friendship, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Internal Conflict, Misunderstandings, No Romance, Rating M as of chapter 4, Reconciliation, Revenge, Sassy Six, Strangulation, The original run that set events in motion, Trust Issues, attempted drowning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:27:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>40,075</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30061749</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApathyAo3/pseuds/ApathyAo3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mono's forgotten how he and Six found themselves in this eternally recurring nightmare. But Six remembers. She remembers the very first time Mono and her made their trip to the tower. Before there was a thin man. Before her monstrous self. Before the eternal loops of revenge and betrayal. Mono would also like to remember... until he doesn't.</p><p>Edit 5/11/21. Changed one line of text near the beginning of chapter 9. Six CAN'T remember her past has now been changed to Six DOESN'T want to remember her past. This slightly changes the context of a part in chapter 5.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mono &amp; Six (Little Nightmares)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Eternal Recurrence [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211594</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>122</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mono Forgets: In Medias Res</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>First fanfic ever and the first bit of creative writing I've tried in 7 years all because the amazing stories and authors of this fandom have inspired me to try and break my own routine. </p><p>That being said I found myself interested in this bit of the LN universe. Shouldn't there have been an original run to take on the tower? An attempt before mono was dropped with no thin man to interfere?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Do you ever wonder how it is that we ended up here?"</p>
<p>This was the question which had been bothering Mono as of late as he and Six sat near the flames of the furnace with the smouldering corpse of the doctor sitting inside. Not that the doctor had anything to do with why Mono had felt the need to pose this question to Six all of the sudden. They had dealt with the big bastard an innumerable number of times throughout the cycles, though the routine nature and greater frequency in which Mono could no longer tell apart the cycles from their little differences had been grating on his nerves for quite a while.</p>
<p>
  <em>Routine, time loops, cycles, cancelled seasons and endless reruns. Circling back to the beginning just to do it all once again. Round and round and round they go, it'll never stop, this they know.</em>
</p>
<p>"What's left to wonder?" Six began, "You found your way to the cabin with me inside. We worked our way through it. We killed the hunter, got on a door, and crossed the river. Then once we landed on the beach we-"</p>
<p>"That's not what I mean!" Mono quickly cuts her off. Of course she'd be able to recount their journey to the smallest of details if she wanted, it's not as if she hadn't been making the same trip to nowhere just like him. Even if her stop was just a short ways further down the road so to speak. But why she feels the need to be facetious in the face of their seemingly inescapable eternity of all things still rubs him the wrong way (though, even he can't be quite so sure for how much longer that will last).</p>
<p>Wanting to get back on track, Mono presses on. "What I'm trying to get at is I can't remember how we got ourselves stuck in this stupid loop in the first place. I know future me snatches you, you get angry and drop me, I get angry and snatch you up again the next time around, and this is how things go on till forever I guess."</p>
<p>"Oh, was that all?" Six said flippantly, as though the very question for why their own existence was tangled into such a knot bore no real consideration at all.</p>
<p>"That's all... That's all she says!" Mono yelled in complete awe of just how cavalier his only sometimes friend could be. "You're telling me you never wonder about any of this!" he said, finally standing up.</p>
<p>"Mono, I think you're misunderstanding something." Six began. "Of course I wonder about what were going through, but I don't have any need to do so about why were here. I still remember how we got here from before the loop."</p>
<p>"... Wait, what?" was all Mono could get out as he gives Six a sort of slack jawed stare. "How do you remember? What do you remember?"</p>
<p>"All of it."</p>
<p>"You remember everything we did from before the loop? How exactly?"</p>
<p>
  <em>Because it's your punishment, your burden, your reward.</em>
</p>
<p>Six shrugs her shoulders, "I just do."</p>
<p>"That isn't an answer."</p>
<p>"Sure it is."</p>
<p>"Is not."</p>
<p>"Is so."</p>
<p>"IT ISN'T SIX! Why would you remember something like that when I can't. And why wouldn't you tell me." Mono said feeling more stress suddenly than any of the most recent loops had been able to cause him in a break from their routine but not an entirely welcome one. And why would Six feel the need to hide such crucial information from him. If he knew why they were stuck in the first place perhaps they could find a way out.</p>
<p>"You never want to remember." she said under her breath.</p>
<p>"Excuse me?"</p>
<p>"You never asked me Mono. I figured you either remembered yourself, or it didn't matter anymore." she said a bit louder this time.</p>
<p>This was not an answer that Mono wanted to hear. Granted there probably wouldn't be any sort of answer that would've left him happy in any sense of the word but he certainly couldn't help but concede that no, he had indeed never asked Six (hadn't he?) if she had remembered anything before the loops. Collecting himself Mono once more sat down beside Six so as to ask her about this time before the cycle.</p>
<p>"Okay, not asking you sooner was my mistake. Now then, I know we're not in the school anymore but if you can, would you kindly share with the rest of the class why we're here." he said, staring into the flames.</p>
<p>Finally having Six's undivided attention she maneuvers herself so that she is facing Mono and starts what he hopes will be a recounting of the events that brought them here. That maybe there really will be something in it to help them escape.</p>
<p>"I can read you like a book you know, like what I'm about to tell you is going to reveal some great secret of the world to you. But I'm telling you for your own good that you really should lower your expectations." She begins already knowing he's getting his hopes up when he's got nothing but disappointment coming his way.</p>
<p>"The reason why we're trapped in this never ending loop, this repeating cycle of revenge and betrayal, is well-" Mono looks over, expectations not at all tempered.</p>
<p>"You were an ass."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Six Remembers: First Meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cold.</p>
<p>Cold and alone, except for the hunter that brought me here, but that would be worse if he was. Trapped in this basement, this children's room, this prison. Nothing left of those other children though, but for a few toys left behind and the scribbles they left etched into the walls. When was the last time I even saw another child? Not since the Nest, with that monster pretending to be a girl, surrounded by the bodies of other kids... as if she had a right to treat their corpses as toys. But there was also that other girl, the one in the yellow rain coat.</p>
<p>And I tried. I tried to save her but in the end it wasn't enough. Both of them fell into the watery depths and now she's gone. Gone like the other children who were here before because nobody came to save them and they weren't able to save themselves... just like me.</p>
<p>Nothing I can do to force my way through the door and nowhere in here for me to run and hide. The only thing I have is this music box that someone must have left behind and what little comfort it can give from the silence as I wait for my doom. Spin the crank and let its tune repeat, over, and over, and over again.</p>
<p>
  <em>Mmmm mmm mm. Mmmm mmm m-</em>
</p>
<p>"Hey."</p>
<p>It feels like I'm going mad. Hearing a voice not my own is probably a pretty good sign that-</p>
<p>"Hey!"</p>
<p>The music stops as I look up at the door. I know this has to be impossible, that I'm going to die. But still I can't help but cling to the faintest hope that my ears were not playing tricks on me.</p>
<p>"Hello," I call out as I walk up to the door.</p>
<p>"I thought someone was in there," says a voice that sounds like it has to be that of another child. Could it be a boy?</p>
<p>Maybe I'm not going to die, not today anyway. "Can you let me out," I call to him. "I was caught by a hunter that lives here, I think he's going to do something horrible to me."</p>
<p>"Sure thing! Just wait right there."</p>
<p>"Wait there..." I mumble to myself. I hope that's not a joke. Probably just a bad choice of words as I surely wouldn't wait anywhere near here if it were up to me. Still it sounds like he's dragging a chair or some such thing to reach the doors handle. I don't know who my savior is but I could hug him for-</p>
<p>And that's an axe smashing through the door nearly hitting me in the face. What more is there for me to do but back away and scream.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>The boy's name is Mono it seems. He wears a childs sized trench coat and has the curious habit of keeping a paper bag over his head with two holes cut for the eyes. That, and he's apparently something of a street urchin who's gone and lost his way.</p>
<p>He says that he ran away from a place called the Pale City that lies across a nearby river. That there is a signal tower there that drove everyone crazy through the televisions and that he crossed the river into the forest so that he could escape it.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for him but not for me, he realized that he had no idea how to make it through the forest and found himself wandering in circles for days. He wants to return to this Pale City to see if there's a way to shut down the signal as put in his own words, "I don't want to be driven mad over an eyeful of static, so I might as well try and do something about it."</p>
<p>It is an admirable idea, trying to fight back despite having tried to runaway. But it is also naive and childish, so very childish in a world that forces us to try and grow up faster then we ought too.</p>
<p>He wants me to come along with him. I do let him know that the last kid I tried to help met a horrible end but that doesn't deter him. If anything its made him even more enthusiastic.</p>
<p>"Well now you can make up for that by helping me," he says as he grabs me by the hand, pulling me along with him out of the hunter's prison.</p>
<p>I feel as if I should protest. Really I do, but he did save me from what would have most certainly been a horrible death without needing to do so. In that sense I do owe him a debt which means I will give him a chance and see where this goes.</p>
<p>But as we're getting ready to climb the stairs he has us stop at the base of the steps and goes back into the room I'd been trapped in with the axe. All I can here is the sound of toys being smashed, ending with what could have only been the music box that gave me some small measure of comfort in the days I was down there. Its repeating tune playing one final broken melody before it's silenced for good.</p>
<p>When I ask him why he did that he tells me, "That hunter had a bunch of bear traps and triplines in the forest and I nearly lost a leg to some of'em. If he wants to crush me I'm going to crush some of his stuff in return."</p>
<p>I can't quite help the feeling of sadness that washes over me from its loss as we make our way further into the cabin.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Six Remembers: Layers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mono is... a peculiar kid who has lots of layers in different ways.</p>
<p>I probably could have taken better notice of this earlier when he rescued me from the basement, that he's stronger than he looks for his size. That axe he used was taller than himself after all. Still, I don't feel as though I should fault myself for not noticing at the time given that when it was used I nearly had my head split open.</p>
<p>But I definitely realized how strong he was when he easily tossed me up to grab the pull cord that would lead to the cabin's attic. Unfortunately, this also caused me learn about a different side of himself that isn't so great. One that became immediately more noticeable.</p>
<p>He's kind of a klutz.</p>
<p>For the life of him, he could not come close to getting me near that cord. I would be tossed high into the air... just not anywhere close to the cord.</p>
<p>After having a sore butt from landing on it for the third time because catching me was out of the question, it seemed pretty obvious that I'll have to be the one who will do the boosting up from here on out.</p>
<p>Clumsy as he is though, I think Mono may have a good sense for avoiding danger. Him being here is proof enough as he mentioned how he was able to avoid the traps that the hunter had laying in the forest. That isn't too bad for a boy from the city.</p>
<p>I'd almost think that if it were possible he even has eyes in the back of his head, somehow able to be used despite the bag over it, as we dashed across the hunters yard hand in hand. He'd pull me behind the cover of a crate just as the hunter shot at us and we were hiding behind another by the time it took to reload his gun.</p>
<p>If capable Mono was the Mono I could have around with me all the time we'd probably find a way to take on anything this horrible world throws at us. Unfortunately my wants and wishes have a habit of not happening which is why I now find myself hanging from a broken bridge over a bottomless chasm.</p>
<p>"Mono! Help! Please pull me up!" I scream out to him.</p>
<p>He said he could handle the weight, that he would be able to pull back on the rope and lift the section of the bridge hanging down. I'd run and jump across, and would be there to catch him from the otherside and it was a good plan. Except for the part where his feet slid out from under him, causing said bridge to slide out from under mine. That I only just managed to contort my body enough to grab the bottom plank of wood that makes it up has to be nothing short of a miracle.</p>
<p>His head pokes over the edge as he reaches down to grab at my hands. The gap isn't large in the way everything else in this world is... but he may as well be on the moon. "Hold on!" he says to me as he disappears behind the ledge.</p>
<p>Him and his bad choice of words, as if I have any other choice but to do so or fall to my death. Would I even die? Or is this space beneath me an unending void and I'd be doomed to fall for all eternity.</p>
<p>Why do I feel so weak? I shouldn't be this weak! I've dislodged a boulder of all things like when I tried to save that girl at the Nest. Maybe the time I spent in the hunters basement caught up with me. Too many days without food, the only water, that which ran down the walls from the leaky window that was to high to reach.</p>
<p>One of my hands slips from the board I've been holding onto. I wish it didn't have to end this way but I guess what goes around comes around. As the last little bit of my strength gives out and my grip comes loose, I can't help but feel a dark regret that Mono's path and mine found a way to cross.</p>
<p>A sudden pressure squeezes itself around my wrist, painfully so. I look up to see what's happened and I'm struck by the sight of Mono holding onto me. One of the sleeves on his trench coat has been tied into a knot on the wooden post that held this bridge in place. He's holding the bottom flap of his coat in one hand and holding onto me with the other.</p>
<p>"Hey," is what he says to me of all things as he swings me up back over the ledge, showing off his strength and thankfully not the clumsiness that put me in this position in the first place.</p>
<p>Catching my breath as he unknots his coat from the wooden post I glare daggers into his back. And yet he still has the nerve to tilt his head at me, as if there's any question for why I'm giving him such a look when he turns to face me.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?" he says. Is he trying to lighten the mood by being funny? He surely can't be serious after what's just happened.</p>
<p>"Whats wrong? More like what the heck was that all about? You told me you could hold the bridge up."</p>
<p>"The uh, the ground was a little more slippery than it looked. I lost my footing." He says rubbing the back of his head. "My bad."</p>
<p>I punch him in the arm, even though my arms feel so numb there isn't anything behind it. "Your bad? Your bad! That isn't good enough Mono! Not when it means that it nearly got me killed!" I say to him, finally losing my temper.</p>
<p>I start walking back the way we came from. This is a mistake. I don't know what I was thinking letting myself get dragged into Mono's scheme if the two of us can barely make it over a hole in the ground.</p>
<p>"Six, wait," he says taking my hand in his own, stopping me. "You're right. I was kind of dumb and should've been more sure of what I was doing. But you can't go back that way. The hunter might find you again and even if he doesn't this forest is deep and you'll get lost and you'll never make it out. Trust me on this, I was out there for days and I'm surprised to even be here."</p>
<p>I can't disregard his words and mad as I am about what just happened... it'd be foolish to deny that he's right when it comes to this. No matter how much I hate it this forest is vast, and if the hunter catches me again he'll probably wring my neck first thing rather than take me alive again.</p>
<p>Letting out a long sigh I pull my hand out of his grip and take a seat, hugging my legs close. I need a breather, let some of the feeling back into my arms. Mono sits next to me, shoulder against mine.</p>
<p>"Look Mono," I begin, "I'm happy you got me out of that cabin. And I'll even go with you to your Pale City because there's nothing here for either of us. But if you tell me you can do something I need to know you'll do it. You wouldn't want to put your life in my hands if you didn't think I was trustworthy, would you?"</p>
<p>He doesn't say anything, but after we've had some time to rest he walks back to the rope with the section of the broken bridge attached. He pulls it back to where we've been sitting and digs his feet into the earth like he's trying to take root. Looking at me he nods his head and says, "You can trust me."</p>
<p>Nodding back I step back to give myself a running start. Fast as I can I race across the part of the bridge he supports and make the leap. Skidding on my knees and landing on my hands I'm back on solid ground. Behind me I hear the sound of the bridge slamming against the cliffside.</p>
<p>Walking forward a few steps I check out the surrounding forest to see if the hunter has heard us.</p>
<p>"OI! HEY!" Mono is shouting after me.</p>
<p>Looking back at him it would be easy if I want to abandon him, now is the chance. There's no way across that gap, nothing near us at our size anyway.</p>
<p>He's kind of a danger to those near him. He's a bit clumsy. He's reckless and rushes into things that he may not be able to get out of.</p>
<p>But he's also strong. He has to have some sense for survival to still be alive. It also doesn't seem like he'd try to throw my life away... Yeah that's what tips the scales in his favor. He saved me, he didn't have to but he did when he could have left me behind even if he wants my help. Much as he's put me in danger, what does it matter if our entire lives have been danger, and maybe things will get better.</p>
<p>Walking back to the ledge I grab a post and lean out far as I can, arm outstretched. He's looking at me, hesitation in his eyes knowing that his life will be in my hands, that he won't be able to get out of this alive by his strength alone.</p>
<p>"You'll catch me, right," he says.</p>
<p>I look him in the eyes and wave him over. Determined to save someone else for once I call out to him.</p>
<p>
  <em>"You can trust me."</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Six Remembers: Double Tap</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Starting to feel a little more comfortable and confident with this story. I was surprised by how much changed when it came to what this story was originally intended compared to what it is now. From how certain scenes played out then to what they became now and what never was suddenly was. I kind of regret not trying my hand at this sooner.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"You know Mono, there was something I was just thinking about now and even though I kind of hate to say it... You really smell, just awful."</p><p>"Oh yeah? Well if we're both going to be honest with each other I gotta say, you're not entirely pleasant to be around right now yourself Six, because you also stink like something just crawled somewhere to die."</p><p>Looking over at him in mock offense I turn to poke him lightly in the chest. "You don't have any business saying such a thing like that to me you know."</p><p>Grabbing my arm near the wrist with no real force behind it he asks me, "Why's that? Is it because you're a girl?"</p><p>Using my other hand I poke him where I would imagine his nose to be on his featureless bag wearing face. "No silly, it's because I have a hard time believing you could smell anything so long as you've got this thing on your head."</p><p>He releases my hand and tilting his head to the side and up a bit leaves me with the impression that he's thinking on what has been said to him. Reaching up the the bottom of his bag he moves it out a little as if to vent it and let in some air. Giving himself a sniff he shudders before looking back at me.</p><p>"You know what Six? I think you may be on to something. I do smell like I just got done walking through a bunch of sewage."</p><p>I put my hand on the back of his shoulder in a show of support to let him know that it's okay.</p><p>"Don't feel too bad about it Mono," I say to him as I grab my soiled shirt by the neck and give it a small sniff. Silently gagging, I look down to take in my own sewage covered self before meeting his eyes to let him know that we're both in the same boat on this.</p><p>~</p><p>That I'm currently covered in some questionable filth, the content of which I can't even begin to imagine is a pretty miserable place to find myself. Still, considering the fact that I could've been dead a number of times over tonight, or waiting to die, rather than making my escape I'd have to say that things are maybe getting better.</p><p>Having a view of the river from this hill and being able to share the moment with someone is a rather nice and new experience. If anything I could almost consider this moment for the very first time tonight, peaceful.</p><p>Peace... that's something I wish I could have.</p><p>Something that I would be able to have if not for this darn hunter who persists in trying to track us down. And for what, because we happened to trespass in his little miserable square of nowhere.</p><p>I can't help myself as I let out an involuntary sigh as Mono and I stare down at the hunter from the hill we're waiting on. We were hoping that he'd eventually give up waiting for us. That maybe he would assume we would go back and try a different way. He must be confident enough in whatever traps he has laying around that we won't make it out, or more likely he's smart enough to figure out that once we caught sight of the river that's where we would want to go.</p><p>The worst part is there's nowhere to hide between here and the water. No tall grass for our tiny bodies to creep through. Just an open field, save for a few boxes and a shed.</p><p>As Mono and I continue to stare down from this hill, trying to puzzle out how to make our way through the field without dying we're both hit by the exact same feeling, its noise letting each other know we both must feel the exact same thing.</p><p>The gurgling of our stomachs and how hungry we both are.</p><p>Feeding me was never a concern for the hunter given that whatever he had planned for me probably didn't involve keeping me around for a long time. But because of my own hunger I didn't really think about the fact that Mono could be going through the same thing as me, which makes sense since he's been wandering the forest for some amount of time.</p><p>With our stomachs settling down we both look to one another and he must recognize the resigned look on my face that he probably has on his own as well.</p><p>We can't wait for the hunter to leave. We might be able to wait him out sure, but what will that matter if we're too weak to continue on after he leaves. We'll win the battle of wits but end up losing the war for survival.</p><p>"I bet you don't want to hear this but I think we're just going to have to make a break for it Six," he says to me. "Maybe if we run fast enough we can reach the shed before he can get his sights on us."</p><p>"Much as I hate that idea I can't help thinking that's really all we can do. But those birds down there might get scared if we just run for it. Maybe we should try to sneak up, get as close as we can before they get scared and fly off."</p><p>I hate this. I hate it when we have nothing but bad choices, and worse choices.</p><p>Beside me, Mono takes a deep breath and sticks out his hand for me. "He's trigger happy," he starts, "When he first chased us he probably could have just caught up to us and shot us in the back, point-blank. Maybe we'll have time to hide behind the crates so long as he doesn't change what he's been doing so far."</p><p>Grabbing his hand I say to him, "Let's do both. I'll get us as close to the birds as possible. When they fly off, that's your signal to lead. After that just do whatever you have to do to get us to the shed."</p><p>With both of our lives in each other's hands this time we make our way down the hill. I take the lead and try to move forward as slowly and calmly as possible. Maybe if we're lucky the birds will just walk away a little, let us pass befo-</p><p>"Craaauuughhh!" they scream as they fly off.</p><p>STUPID BIRDS!</p><p>My entire body is yanked forward since that's Mono's sign to take over. We hide behind the nearest crate just as the hunter fires at us. Half of it is destroyed and I expect Mono to make a beeline for the next one immediately but he doesn't. I nervously wonder if he's frozen up for some reason in this split second before a second shot tears through the rest of our cover.</p><p>Mono was waiting for good reason. Given that the hunter has two barrels on his gun and all that. We run for the next crate which looks even flimsier than the first, but in the hunter's haste he must have only loaded one shell for another doesn't follow once this box is shattered. We use what few precious seconds we have to make it inside the shed.</p><p>Releasing my hand Mono runs forward to see if there's anywhere we can hide while I throw a low set latch at the bottom of the door to lock it, buy us a little extra time. With my back against the door, futilely trying to put up whatever extra resistance I can against the hunter's incessant pounding I see that Mono has been busy.</p><p>The hunter has kept a gun in this shed which Mono is already working on taking down from its stand. I stare on as I silently try to will Mono into getting the gun down faster, all the while the door behind me starts to splinter.</p><p>Mono is not a slouch and has the gun down in no time but our next problem is quickly apparent. He isn't strong enough to lift, aim, and fire it at the same time. Running over I pick up the front end while Mono lifts from behind. Weak from hunger and being hunted we struggle to lift the gun higher than where the hunter's feet should be.</p><p>A shot goes off... from the other side of the door, tearing a hole through which an arm can fit. The hunter has lost his patience and is now fumbling at the handle of the door on our side, looking for a lock.</p><p>This is it. We're trapped with our backs against the wall. There is no escape, only us and a gun we didn't even have time to check and see whether it's loaded or not. If not, this will be our end. Mine and Mono's story will end before it even begins, cut short before the infinite possibilities that it could have gone down.</p><p>Mono is screaming.</p><p>I'm screaming.</p><p>We raise the gun high enough to do real harm just as the door's lock breaks and the hunter grabs its handle. Fighting fire with fire, Mono pulls one of the triggers. The gun fires, and everything goes dark.</p><p>~</p><p>Ringing.</p><p>Despite the ringing in my ears and arms that are sore, I wake up. For a second I wonder if everything that happened had just been a dream but the gun on the floor and Mono's still form beside me make it obvious that no, I'm not dreaming. The hunter is dead and the shot he took at us through the door has knocked loose the boards on the window in the back.</p><p>Turning to Mono, I put my hands on his upper arm and give him a light shake. As he begins to stir, he sits up and shakes the numbness out of his hands.</p><p>After what we've just been through I ask him, "Are you okay?"</p><p>"Yeah I'm fine. Didn't know that gun would kick back as much as it did."</p><p>"I didn't even know guns do that."</p><p>Having taken a moment to catch our breath we get up to leave. With the hunter dead we should be able to go through the window and reach the riv-</p><p>A moan bellows out from past the door.</p><p>"No, no no no." I repeat this as I walk over to the hole we put in the door and peak out. And there, lying in a pool of blood, one hand desperately fighting a losing battle to hold in his guts, life draining away. The other grasping and digging small trenches in the soil with his fingers, in a hopeless effort to grab his own gun, is the hunter.</p><p>Growling out in anger I open the door as Mono calls out to me. I don't hear what he says as I'm already outside, punching and scratching at the hunter's wound, increasing his cries of anguish. Mono is not far behind, he doesn't stop me but he does ask me, "What are you doing Six?"</p><p>"I'm making sure that he dies."</p><p>"I think we already did that," he says, dipping the toe of his shoe into the growing pool of blood.</p><p>"No, we're not safe until he's dead, you're not safe until he's dead, and I'm going to make sure that he is." Looking over at Mono I tell him, "Get the gun from the shed."</p><p>"Six we don't ne-"</p><p>"Please just grab it Mono. The last time I thought I was able to stop a monster it came back and someone died. I have to do this, for us."</p><p>Sensing that I'm not going to back down on this he heaves a sigh and goes to the shed to fetch the gun. The hunter's struggles start to cease, whether from being to weak to continue or realizing his life will soon be at an end. Honestly it doesn't really matter.</p><p>Once Mono has dragged the gun out side I ask him to help me place it on the ground, upside down so I can pull the other trigger, with the barrel facing the hunter's head. I won't force him to do anymore than this if he doesn't want, this is my closure I'm seeking. But, surprisingly he seems to offer some level of willingness to let me see things through as he braces the end of the gun with his foot.</p><p>I stare at the hunter for a time, at the monster who held and had dark designs for me and all the other children that came before and I realize that I'm sick of looking at him. So I turn away and look at Mono. I look at him and I stare into his eyes.</p><p>I remember the eyes of the last person I ever saw so clearly, the girl in the yellow coat. I remember the look of sadness and fear, a face that showed how I failed her, as she fell away from me, until she was lost from my sight to the depths. It's as I stare at Mono that I realize I don't want the same for him as well.</p><p>
  <em>I hope I never have to see that same face on you as you gaze back at me.</em>
</p><p>And with that I kick the trigger, and so ends the monster of the forest.</p><p>~</p><p>As we walk along the beach we look for anything that can be used to cross the river. We do this as we chew on the strips of jerky we found in the hunter's pockets. Mono was rather practical in this, figuring that anything the hunter might have of any use was better off with us. It's good that he remembered, as hunger was the last thing on my mind.</p><p>Walking hand in hand and munching on our ill gotten gains I'm amazed by the feeling of actual peace I've experienced for the first time that I can remember. Nothing attacking me, nothing hunting me, this small moment with food in my stomach and a friend close by.</p><p>A friend. Funny how that ended up working out.</p><p>Something must have caught Mono's sight as the rest of his food disappears up the underside of his bag and he's suddenly running ahead, pulling on a door that he figures will float good enough. He waves me over so that we can continue on our way to his home, the Pale City.</p><p>I want to ask him if it's really worth it, this goal that he has in mind of stopping some signal tower. Why we should even bother, that we can stay over here and see if this beach will lead us somewhere better.</p><p>But I don't, much as I don't want to abandon the peace I've found here, it seems like Mono will never find his own peace unless he does this thing that he's set his mind to. Still that doesn't mean I can't prolong this moment for a little longer.</p><p>"Before we cross I'm taking a dip," I say to him as I step into the water. I begin to undue the buttons on my shirt.</p><p>"Why do you have to do that," he says faintly. He's turned his head, looking anywhere else.</p><p>Stifling a laugh as I walk in up to my hips I shout out, "After everything that's happened I may have forgotten I was hungry but I didn't forget that dirty muck we walked through!"</p><p>"Oh. Well I'll do the same but... over here," he says, pointing a small distance away. "If you don't mind, please don't look over here."</p><p>He's rather modest. Or maybe he doesn't want me to see him without his bag? No matter, I can let him have his privacy. It's the least I can do. Before he gets too far I let him know that he should shout out if he needs anything and that I will do the same back.</p><p>With that out of the way I sit down so that I'm in up to my shoulders and begin to wash away at the filth that had been covering me.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Six Remembers: Mono's Motives</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The river crossing was never meant to be its own chapter. Neither was Mono meant to have a backstory. But here we are.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clean!</p>
<p>Well... cleaner I suppose. After all, there's really only so much that river water can do when it comes to trying to wash yourself if you're as dirty as we were. Still, it's better than going through our entire trip caked in disgusting filth the whole time. The smell would have been horrible, never mind the fact that it could of possibly made us sick.</p>
<p>Of course, being chilled to the bone in wet clothes is its own sort of miserable but we'll just have to make due and deal with it. As I return to the beach, Mono is as soaked as me and wiping his hands off in the water from having dug out the door that we'll use to cross the river.</p>
<p>Can't say that a door would be my first choice to cross the river but it looks like it'll float at the very least. Not like we can take a boat given there's none around, though when it comes to having someone take you anywhere on a boat, in my experience it only ever seems to end up being a place worse then where you were.</p>
<p>While thinking on this, Mono takes notice of me as I walk up to him, "You look a lot happier," he says.</p>
<p>"And you look the same because I don't know how you look," I tease back. Mono rolls his eyes as I go on, "But yes, I do feel much better."</p>
<p>"Well that's good at least."</p>
<p>With nothing more left to do I point at the door and ask him, "Are you sure we'll be able to get across the river on this thing?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, I think it'll be okay. The first time I crossed over was on something even more rickety than this," he says. It seems to be that he's trying to put any fears or doubt I might have about crossing at ease.</p>
<p>Not that such a thing is unreasonable. Whether its falling through a void or drowning in the depths you'll still head down, and you'll still end up dead.</p>
<p>Having delayed the inevitable for long enough we grab the door and push it into the water. Since there are waves coming in but also a need to make sure we don't hit anything it's decided that I'll keep an eye out for anything in front of us. Mono will have his back facing where we need to go but will sit at the end of the door and use his legs to kick us forward.</p>
<p>It's only a little ways off the shore and I quickly remember how much colder it can be out on the water. Much more so when you find yourself on a flat door with nothing to block the wind. Shivering I look back from near the front of the door and see that Mono looks to be quite cold himself.</p>
<p>With nothing to block sight of what's in front of us I walk back and huddle up next to him at the back of the door, shoulder to shoulder so that we can share a little extra warmth. If we're going to be facing more danger soon, I'll take the small comforts wherever I can find them.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>"So tell me about yourself."</p>
<p>Six's question draws me out of my bored haze as I kick my legs to propel us across the river. She doesn't really seem like the sort to do anything or ask questions for no reason so I'm curious about why she'd want to know about me.</p>
<p>"Why do you want to know?"</p>
<p>"Because I'm bored, and cold, and staring ahead at nothing but empty water. Maybe getting to know my new friend a little better will help me take my mind off two of those things, you know?"</p>
<p>New friend? Me?</p>
<p>"I didn't really see you as thinking of me like that," I say in surprise.</p>
<p>"Why wouldn't I see you as a friend?"</p>
<p>"...there was the whole thing with the axe and the door, nearly letting you fall at the bridge, the hunter and the gun." I say while looking away.</p>
<p>Six nudges me in the shoulder to make me face her again as she begins. "Yeah well, I'll admit I didn't have the best opinion of you when we first met. You seemed pretty reckless and dangerous to everyone near you, but you're more capable than I gave you credit for. It didn't really feel like you were being to harsh on me when I wanted to finish off the hunter. And I did like our time that we had on the beach, it was the first time I've felt safe, felt at peace in a while.</p>
<p>My face starts to heat up as I feel a blush coming on, thank goodness I have my bag on. I'm not used to receiving praise of any sort, much less the kind that's so earnest. Certainly not for throwing myself in the middle of trouble. And I didn't even know she felt that way on the beach. I can't help thinking that maybe I shouldn't have dragged her into this.</p>
<p>Still, she's been pretty forward with me so I can do the same. "I think you're rather capable yourself Six," I begin, "You didn't leave me behind despite how you felt at first. You're good at making plans, and dealing with the hunter did end up getting us a meal out of it so that shows what I know for thinking we should just walk away."</p>
<p>A friend. Kind of sad I didn't even realize it was happening right before my eyes.</p>
<p>Nudging her with my shoulder I say, "Okay new friend, ask away. What would you like to know about me." Seeing that mischievous smirk on her face I'm pretty sure I have a good idea what she's planning to ask first.</p>
<p>"So what's with the bag?"</p>
<p>Figures, but that's fine. It's not as though I've got some great secret to hide behind it anymore.</p>
<p>"Habit."</p>
<p>As she scrunches her face from not being sure what I mean it's apparent I'll have to explain a little further.</p>
<p>"Or rather, it's something I still do from when I needed to. I grew up homeless in Pale City and they used to round up the homeless kids. They'd ask other homeless kids to point out who was like them and then that kid would get taken as well. Don't really know where they were sent, some kids claimed they'd be sent away on a ship to a place in the middle of nowhere on the water, scary kids stories."</p>
<p>A look of sadness passes over Six's face as she says to me, "Yeah, I actually know exactly what that's like. It's how I got sent to this place called the Nest. But how did your bag help you out?"</p>
<p>Seeing that we may be far more similar than I first realized I continue my story.</p>
<p>"The bag was a simple way to hide who I am. If someone is looking for you, wearing a bag makes you look suspicious, that you're trying to hide your face, which you are. But if someone is trying to find a kid with a bag on their head, taking it off real quick lets you hide in plain sight... Why are you looking at me like that?</p>
<p>Six seems to be sceptical if the look on her face is anything to go by. She lets it go as she asks me her next question.</p>
<p>"So what was it like growing up there?"</p>
<p>"It was horrible. I never knew my parents like most of the other kids I met. There were soup kitchens and places for adults to get meals but you had to steal from them because kids weren't allowed to take part, or you could scrounge from the trash in alleys. It was almost always raining so staying dry was impossible, though I guess we've already got that part set up for my return."</p>
<p>Another roll of her eyes and a shoulder nudge from Six.</p>
<p>"But the other kids were okay. Even though the monsters who rounded us up would get the other kids to talk, you knew it wasn't personal, that they'd be hurt until they talked. That's why some of us hid our faces from each other. So that we wouldn't know what we don't know."</p>
<p>"Were you friends with any of them?"</p>
<p>"Not really, but some of them were pretty memorable. There was a kid who actually did have parents who ran away from his home. He got taken away in shackles I remember. There was a smart girl, who was sickly and she had constant nosebleeds. There was also one big group of kids who came from all over the place, and each of them wore a different colored cloak."</p>
<p>Looking up to the night sky I can't help but let out a mournful sigh, "I kind of wish I knew what happened to all of them... Is there anything else you'd like to know Six?"</p>
<p>She's curled up now, sitting with her knees hugged to her chest. Giving me her last questions she asks, "It sounds like things were always pretty bad there. So why do you want to go back? What does this signal tower have to do with anything?"</p>
<p>"Because as bad as it was before, it got worse after the tower showed up. Where or when it showed up I don't remember, but one day it wasn't part of the skyline and the next it suddenly was. The signal it put out didn't have as much of a chance to affect us homeless kids since we're not really around TV's but everything else in the city slowed to a stop. We thought maybe that wouldn't be so bad, until all of the adults changed-.</p>
<p>After the adults were under the control of the tower's signal they turned into actual monsters, who would only try to find a TV to stick their face into, or murder any kid not under its control that they came across. It was a bloodbath and none of us were taken alive anymore. At least not by the normal viewers, some adults turned into bigger monsters of a different sort from what I'd hear."</p>
<p>"And shutting down this tower will change things? How?" Six asks.</p>
<p>"I don't know. Maybe the viewers will die off, maybe they won't. At the very least catching an eyeful of static won't turn some unsuspecting kid who shows up there into a brainless monster, because there has to be more out there. Besides, I already tried escaping and that nearly got me killed anyway. So I might as well try and fight back if that's the case."</p>
<p>Sitting there quietly, Six seems to be considering what I've said. Before too long she says to me, "I can kind of see where you're coming from, and I'm not against helping a kid if they're right in front me needing it. But this seems a little too reckless Mono, you're putting your life at risk beyond what most other kids would.</p>
<p>She's not exactly wrong and I did get her tangled up in my little self declared quest when I came across her, lost for days in the woods, scared and half starved. Still it'd be nice to hear that what I'm doing isn't a complete fool's erra-</p>
<p>Her hand sits on top of mine as she looks me in the face.</p>
<p>"But because you decided to try and fight you came across me and I wouldn't be here right now if not for your choice, so that shows what I know for thinking that walking away should lead to the best end."</p>
<p>I never would have expected to have my words used again in such a way so soon. Six is sharper than I would imagine it seems. Some silent understanding feels like it passes between us, that we'll see this through together.</p>
<p>"Well that's my story, but what about you? I'm curious to know where it is you ca-" is as far as I get before something is wrapped around my foot trying to drag me into the water.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>We were having a nice conversation, so why? Why is Mono being pulled into the water!? No not why, what is pulling him? That my hand was on his is maybe the only reason I was able to get a grip on him before he was dragged under.</p>
<p>Looking at where Mono's foot is wrapped it appears as if there's some weird fish using a whisker to grab him. Pulling for all I'm worth at his wrist with Mono trying to scramble back I hear him cry out to me.</p>
<p>
  <em>"Please don't let me go!"</em>
</p>
<p>"Wiggle your foot!" I scream out.</p>
<p>And as he begins to thrash his leg while I pull back on him his foot slips out of his shoe and we scramble further towards the middle of the door. With the head of whatever fish that was disappearing beneath the surface Mono stands and in a moment of pure frustration, throws his other shoe at it with a roar of, "You jerk!"</p>
<p>I'm laying on my back when Mono plops down beside me to do the same as we both catch our breath. We haven't even made it into the city and already one of us nearly died. I look over at him and ask, "Are you okay?"</p>
<p>"No... I shouldn't have thrown my other shoe."</p>
<p>"I haven't been wearing any this entire time, but we'll probably find some in the city. Ignoring that for now lets make sure that if we ever cross this river again we don't stick our feet in the water."</p>
<p>"Yeah that'd probably be a smart... that's a TV."</p>
<p>Sitting up I look over the side that Mono is staring towards and sure enough, floating in the water is a TV. And if there's one floating out here when we hadn't seen any before then that must mean...</p>
<p>We both turn our heads towards the front of the door, and through the fog buildings take shape. Buildings that as we get closer look like impossible misshapen ruins that wobble in the wind. The act almost looks as though the city could be warning us away or inviting us to our doom. But irregardless of that is the only fact that matters, we have arrived at the Pale City.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Six Remembers: No Man's Land</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>1) Six was never intended to be as sassy as she's becoming but for whatever reason that just seems to be the way her character is going. </p>
<p>2) Probably could've had this out sooner if not for the time lost writing, rewriting, then scrapping some few lines of grandiloquent, asinine nonsense that didn't do anything for the plot. What was settled on is much better as it will factor in to the second part of the series. Assuming I make it that far (fingers crossed).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back on the beach...</p>
<p>If only it were the beach Mono and I ended up leaving behind. That was a place of good memories. Memories that in our short and danger filled lives may as well be from almost forever ago. Now the only thing I can be happy about is that we were able to barely avoid dying. Just so we could stand here before these appartment blocks.</p>
<p>Even though they weren't meant for it the buildings in front of us give me the impression that they form a wall. A first sort of defense designed to keep outsiders from trespassing upon this city. A defense, that has just enough holes in it, to lure in those who would be foolish enough to not heed their better judgment, and avoid this cursed place altogether.</p>
<p>Condemned structures that only the condemned would enter. Abandon hope, for all is lost.</p>
<p>"Home again," Mono says from beside me while looking up and down the beach, taking in the buildings that all have this similar sort of disrepair about them.</p>
<p>"Do you have any idea where we're at?" I ask Mono. "After all, you're the local, and I'm just a tourist."</p>
<p>A dry chuckle escapes Mono as he shakes his head side to side. "Sorry, I've no idea where we landed. The beachfront wasn't really the safest place for kids like me. Too open, not exactly a ton of places to hide.</p>
<p>Gazing back into the river where he was almost dragged to his death he adds, "And after what happened on the water, I wouldn't be caught dead recommending any kid try their luck under the waves." A small shudder escapes him from the fresh memory.</p>
<p>Since standing here isn't going to do us any good, other than keeping us from walking into the city of mysterious danger, Mono takes the lead and starts moving toward the only building with a light still shining over its entrance.</p>
<p>Passing through it is uneventful as is the case when we reach the street on the other side. Staying low and close to the walls, hugging shadows we sneak to the end of it only to discover that there are parts of the city that seem to descend into a gap of nothing, just like parts of the forest did.</p>
<p>"Was the city always like this?" I ask Mono while staring down into the endless abyss.</p>
<p>"No," he says, scratching his head. Walking away from the edge he continues, "Everything's... wrong. The streets were never like this and the more I think about it, a lot of the buildings have turned... misshapen. It's all changed."</p>
<p>"Well, weird as that sounds I can't help but have a different question from what you were telling me about this place."</p>
<p>Where have all of the people gone? According to Mono there were a lot of adults but also a small number of kids left. And sure, he said a lot of them wanted to stick their faces to a TV screen, but not all of them. Yet from what we've seen so far, this place is completely dead.</p>
<p>Passing through a diner raises more questions as we walk by chairs with clothes draped across but nobody filling them. No bones left behind, no puddle of putrid liquefied flesh. No sign of struggle or any TVs to keep them here. Just a whole lot of nothing with an extra side of more nothing.</p>
<p>Passing a stack of broken TV's we come upon our first roadblock as it were. A hole in the wall to high for both of us to pass but that one of us can be boosted up to. Remembering Mono's flailing attempts to boost me up at the cabin I'd say that he's going to become the permanent volunteer when it comes to exploring places unknown.</p>
<p>Not that there isn't a practical reason for this. Mono is admittedly a little stronger than me, at least in so far as using something heavy to defend himself is concerned. He's also on home turf and has a destination he's trying to reach, so if anyone has less of a chance of getting themself and their friend lost which is its own sort of danger that was learned in the forest too, it'll be him.</p>
<p>Before boosting him, the plan is made that he will see if he can find a rope or something like it for me to climb up and join him. While waiting for Mono to shout out I walk over to sit on the TV stack to take some time to collect my thoughts.</p>
<p>The city is not at all what I was expecting. I figured we would be playing hide or die with some adults in the streets or alleyways. Sticking to the shadows, hiding in nooks and crannies, that sort of thing. But this feels wrong, it feels like were tiptoeing past a corpse that's left us a nasty surprise in the next room over. Whatever, hopefully Mono finds some way to get me ov-</p>
<p>Why am I flying upward! Stomach fluttering! Heart racing! Please stop!</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Unclenching my eyes it would seem that I have stopped. My body did anyway. Heart is beating like it wants to make a break for it but my ribs are blocking the way. Calm down and look over the edge, need to see what happened.</p>
<p>"Hey!"</p>
<p>Mono...</p>
<p>The TV I'm sitting on is knotted up with a different one that he pushed down which launched me up. An okay alternative since there was no rope. But why couldn't he warn me!</p>
<p>"Six! See if you can follow this way. There's a staircase with a big gap. It's too far for me to jump on my own."</p>
<p>And just as quickly as Mono sent me up here he's taken off. Out of sight and out of his mind. Standing slowly and trying to control this shiver that I've come down with I jump from the TV to the floor above Mono's.</p>
<p>By the time I make it to the staircase in question Mono is already waiting for me. I wipe my sweaty palms off on my shirt, because I certainly wouldn't want to drop my good friend Mono... and reach out for him.</p>
<p>Mono makes the jump with my help easily enough but he seems confused as to why I'm now giving him the evil eye. Walking up on my side of the stairs a bit I point down the hall I just came from.</p>
<p>"You saw how fast I shot up. Now go see how high it is from the ground and tell me if that wouldn't have scared the crap out of you, ya jerk."</p>
<p>"Alright, sorry! It didn't look that bad..." he grumbles to me as he walks off.</p>
<p>Not that bad. Who does he think he's kidding.</p>
<p>Walking ahead before he comes back I barely pay any mind to the bodiless set of clothes hanging from the ceiling. Slipping through the large cracks of a broken door, the room past it is just as empty, except for the TV that's sitting in the middle of...</p>
<p>Static buzzes across the screen, a hum fills the air, and my vision blanks white.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>
  <strong>Hmmmm.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Well if it isn't the girl who kills monsters, but does not yet know the monster she is to become.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Girl who will lose herself in an abyss of time that never runs out, and is already too late.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>You will remember to curse this day girl, just as you yourself are soon to be cursed. Trapped in an eternal recurrence of deathless flesh and a mind that'll know no reprieve.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Forced to walk this path again and again and again and again and again.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>You will remember...</strong>
</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>"...Six!"</p>
<p>What's that noise?</p>
<p>"Six!"</p>
<p>What is shaking me?</p>
<p>"SIX!"</p>
<p>Coming to with a start I sit up suddenly, nearly bumping my head against Mono's. Across from me the TV is laying on its screen, tipped over with smoke seeping from its guts.</p>
<p>"Are you crazy!? Why would you run ahead like that?" Mono asks, equal parts concerned for my mind and angry at my leaving him behind.</p>
<p>"I was-"</p>
<p>I was what? Mad that he did something dumb and it scared me? As if that's a reason to run off in a dangerous city I've never been to. A city with dangers quite literally just around a corner.</p>
<p>Standing up, Mono walks up to the TV, giving it a light kick. "This is why, we need to stick close to one another, as much as we possibly can," he says.</p>
<p>"Right," I say, thoroughly chastised. It's about the only thing I can say given what I just went through...</p>
<p>What did I go through?</p>
<p>Leaning against the TV Mono asks me that very same question. "So what was it like? I never met anyone who got caught up in whatever it is the TV's do to them. Did you see anything? Hear anything?"</p>
<p>I try to remember anything that happened once the TV turned itself on but try as I might nothing comes to me.</p>
<p>"No. No I don't remember anything really. I forced my way into this room, and saw the TV in the corner. It turned itself on and after that nothing... just you waking me up. It's like whatever happened in that time is lost to me."</p>
<p>Mono has his hand on his chin, considering what I've told him. "If the TV's are turning themselves on we're going to need to be extra careful around them. We could both get caught up in whatever they do and that'll be that."</p>
<p>Pushing himself off, Mono starts walking to the window since we need to keep moving. As he gets ready to hop out he looks back at me briefly and asks-</p>
<p>
  <em>"If I'm ever trapped in the signal or whatever the TV is playing you'd pull me out, right?"</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Six Remembers: Hard Knocks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's strange isn't it."</p>
<p>"What's strange Six?"</p>
<p>"This. A place out in the open for kids to play. That it has this fence around it to keep them in but also to maybe keep others out. Keep them safe. Was that ever what people considered normal ?"</p>
<p>Thoughts about days that are long since dead and gone, before mine and Mono's time intrude upon my mind as we stare through the chain link fence of the playground and school it is protecting.</p>
<p>It's such a foreign idea and yet... to see pictures of kids like us at play in such places in pictures and books are far to numerous to think it has to of all been a lie.</p>
<p>The curse of us having been born too late it would seem. But maybe not, if what the adults have turned into is anything to go by...</p>
<p>"Yeah yeah, it's very sad and all that. Help me move that dumpster, let's see if there's a way in behind it," he says, putting on an air of being overly serious.</p>
<p>Walking behind Mono I can't help but roll my eyes a bit. Sure I messed up with the TV a little while ago but I guess he thinks that makes him the sensible one all of the sudden in our little duo. We'll see how long that lasts before he makes a mistake of his own.</p>
<p>Working together we haul the dumpster back a ways and it was actually concealing a hole in the fence that we quickly pass through. Standing on the playground proper, it's fairly simple. Tire swing, teeter-totter, and soccer goals. It's not bad, simple things can have their own charm after all.</p>
<p>Walking over to Mono who's leaning against the first goal, it seems like he's trying to puzzle something out as he stares at the school.</p>
<p>"Is something wrong, don't wanna go in there?" I ask.</p>
<p>"No, nothing like that, we need to go through it no matter what. No, I was wondering which school this was, if any of the kids I used to know went to this one."</p>
<p>"You went to school?" I ask, surprise written on my face.</p>
<p>"What? No, not a day in my life. But there were some kids that used to play hooky, or they'd runaway if it was a boarding school where they couldn't stand all the rules anymore. Some of them were kind of stuck up, but others were alright. They'd teach you things like how to read and write if you brought them something they wanted, normally by stealing it."</p>
<p>I never knew Mono could read. Not to say that I thought him too dumb, we just haven't come across any signs or warnings that needed to be.</p>
<p>"I'm glad I was able to learn how at least, before things here got worse."</p>
<p>Much as I like to retreat into the fonder memories of my mind we still need stay focused on what's in front of us. Pointing at the school I ask, "Well Mr. Bookworm I'm curious, what's your read on this place?"</p>
<p>"Bookworm?" mumbles Mono. "Well, there aren't any lights on, so at first glance it could be empty. But there is a sort of rope made out of bed sheets coming out of that window up there. That'd mean some kid was trying to get out but they may have also wanted a way back in."</p>
<p>"Nothing about that sounds wrong. So what's the plan?" I ask. I only do this because we were winging it since we hit the beach and I already had... whatever it was that happened from the one TV. Better that we go in there on the same page.</p>
<p>"Same plan as always," Mono starts. "We stay quiet, out of sight, and stick close. Since we can't do anything other than that we'll deal with whatever problem comes up, if it comes up."</p>
<p>Lining himself up with a ball that was left out near the other goal I watch as Mono gets ready to give it a running kick. I knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the serious act for long.</p>
<p>"We do all that and we'll be through the school as fast as-"</p>
<p>Mono is running towards the ball. I'll admit that I was tempted to give it a good kick myself but Mono's made it there first. I can let him have his fun as he tries to make his point in a silly sort of way.</p>
<p>I expect the ball to roll along the ground, and quickly pass through the goal, nice and simple...</p>
<p>Instead the path the ball takes goes wide, nowhere near the goal. It also sails through the air... and shatters one of the windows of the school, making the loudest noise that seemingly echoes across the Pale City.</p>
<p>"..."</p>
<p>"..."</p>
<p>There's nothing that can be said as I stare at Mono, who's now got his arms crossed, one hand raised, disappearing under his bag to cover his mouth.</p>
<p>All I can do is try to fight the headache that suddenly hits me despite not hitting my head on anything as of late, by pressing my palms into my eyes. It doesn't help but it still feels like I just have to do something with my hands.</p>
<p>He's still my friend. Friends have spats, but that's no reason to try and throttle him. Heaving a sigh, I walk past Mono towards the back door.</p>
<p>"Six? What are you doing?" squeaks Mono.</p>
<p>I keep walking as I say, "I'm going to knock and see if anyone answers. We should apologize for breaking that window. It's the responsible thing for us to do."</p>
<p>Getting as far as the stairs, Mono seizes my hand to keep me from going any further. Glaring back at him I think he might have taken me seriously given that he's looking at me strange, as if I've suddenly grown a second head.</p>
<p>"You're messing with me right?" he says, in total disbelief.</p>
<p>"No not at all. I'm being as serious as a heart attack. You know, that thing you nearly gave me earlier with the TV I was sitting on, and the way you've been acting towards me since the other TV."</p>
<p>I'm not being fair on that last point but what he's just done has gone beyond reckless and shot straight up to senseless. Maybe I took it too far though since he lets go of my hand and steps back a bit.</p>
<p>Looking anywhere else but at me he says in a small voice, "You don't have to be mean about it you know."</p>
<p>I look down and let out a sigh. This isn't getting us anywhere and the longer we stay out here the better the chance something could come across us. Then I'll be the one who did something more senseless than taking my frustrations out on Mono.</p>
<p>"Let's just go already," is all I can finally say. But as Mono starts walking to the tied bedsheets we'll be using to get into the school I grab him by his arm and let him know one last thing.</p>
<p>
  <em>"You haven't seen me be mean yet."</em>
</p>
<p>Furrowing his brows a bit from what little of his face is seen I continue, "If you wanted to see mean I would have blown the hunter's foot off while he was squirming on the ground, so that he would suffer more. I'm only annoyed, so let's just try to get through this safely, alright."</p>
<p>Mono doesn't seem entirely convinced and says nothing. Still I trust him to look out for me the same as I'll look out for him.</p>
<p>Beginning my climb I look over at the windows that haven't been shattered and can't quite shake the feeling that we're being watched.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Six Remembers: Porcelain Punks</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Stuck in a funk, realizing I have to change the way I'll need to write the second part of the series... again.<br/>Busy work schedule.<br/>Multiple rewrites and revisions on the first part of this chapter since Mono sounded like he wanted to take a trip to mamby pamby land.<br/>This took longer then I wish it would've. </p><p>I also continue to find myself more and more impressed by the other writers who've created works that are by a large margin, far better than this for the fandom. My hat is off to you.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As we walk the empty halls littered with overturned lockers and buckets that swing from the ceiling it quickly became apparent that this school has most definitely not been abandoned and we are not welcome here.</p><p>Granted, that the school wasn't empty should have been obvious from the trash can that was passed when we first climbed in. It was still smoking from a recent fire which someone must have set. But with how distracted I was from my fight earlier with Mono, and the hidden room we discovered that looked like it was used for torturing kids, it couldn't be helped that I was distracted from this obvious fact.</p><p>Walking down an unlit hall, Mono and I hear a loud cracking noise and catch sight of the shadow from some monstrous adult with a neck that was stretched in an impossible way.</p><p>Hiding behind an overturned locker, all we can do is wait and hope it will leave. A door from the hall where we saw the shadow slams, making it vanish. That we don't hear the sound of footsteps drawing closer, both of us breathe a sigh of relief. We probably would not have been able to make an escape if whatever was up there had came this way.</p><p>With that bit of danger behind us we continue on, quieter, more alert to the fact now that this little section of Pale City is not as abandoned as were starting to think. The halls are empty and there's nothing that strikes me as out of the ordinary until we come upon a hall with a ball just sitting in the middle of it.</p><p>Immediately remembering what happened outside and without really thinking about what I'm about to say I nudge Mono with my elbow and whisper, "Try not to kick this one too, alright."</p><p>What I thought would be taken as a light joke, maybe cut the tension down a little bit between us has the exact opposite effect. Mono picks up his pace and starts running towards the ball!</p><p>Not expecting this, I flail out toward him in a panic. My fingers graze the back of his coat but it's not good enough to make Mono stop. I give chase and as he gets nearer and nearer to the ball I'm about to scream out to him not to do this, but before that happens he suddenly does stop and I run face first into his back.</p><p>Grabbing my nose I feel something wet and now, I'm finally losing my temper. I yell at him, "What has gotten into you!? Why are you acting like this!?"</p><p>Turning around, he first seems surprised by the state I'm in but still his gaze hardens before saying, "What? I'm just being my regular, serious self you know?"</p><p>Is... is he actually doing this right now? In here of all the places.</p><p>As I glare at Mono his eyes start to crinkle up in what I can only guess is some sort of percieved victory. All the while he's still walking backwards and getting closer to that ball.</p><p>"See? It doesn't feel so good when you make someone panic for no reason. You'd almost think it's a way to be mean?"</p><p>This is what he's been getting at? Well if he wants to see how I am when I actually become angry so badly he's going to get what he's asking for. With my bloody nose soaked fists clenched at my side I walk towards him.</p><p>But as he steps near the part of the floor right beneath the ball it lets out a loud creak. Perhaps this was some sort of signal since my anger quickly morphs into terror. I can see one of those buckets that have been hanging from the ceiling, hurtling towards my foolish friend.</p><p>"MONO!"</p><p>I scream while rushing forward to tackle him. We're all tangled up with each other as the bucket just barely misses us, close enough that I even feel the wind from its passing on the back of my neck. Had I been a moment too late one of us might be picking the other's brains up off of this floor.</p><p>My heart is beating like crazy... or is that his? I can't tell with how close we are, laying on top of him like this. Picking myself up I look down at a dazed Mono and ask, "Are you done, with whatever this was?"</p><p>"Yeah I'm done... I was just trying to make a point," he says while sitting up to stare at the bucket that has since stopped swinging. He's breathless and scared... and he's going to hear what I have to say.</p><p>"You wanted to make a point? Fine, let me make one to you."</p><p>I offer Mono my hand, to help him get back on his feet but I don't let go of his once I've finished helping him up. I continue to hold onto it as I stare at him. Mono looks confused at first, probably expecting me to say something, but words aren't needed yet. When I figure he seems to think I'm implying something simple like, we're in this together, I start to make my real point.</p><p>I begin by squeezing his hand, hard, and I continue to squeeze even harder still.</p><p>There's still confusion in his eyes as I start putting on enough force that it probably hurts. His confusion quickly switches to anger as he starts to squeeze back, far harder than I'm able to. Much as it hurts, I need to bear it so that he'll understand, and through gritted teeth I begin.</p><p>"You get it now right? We're in this together. If you hurt me, I can hurt you. And if I hurt you, you can hurt me."</p><p>Mono isn't letting up. I don't need to hurt him over something so simple. But I'd like to keep this hand so I better get on with it. Going boneless and limp, I see the shock in Mono's eyes as I fall back and drag him down so that he is the one now staring down from on top of me. He's no longer crushing my hand, but he hasn't let go.</p><p>"But what will you do if I was too hurt to go on? Will you pick me up? Carry me, through this place, this city? Or would you leave me behind, abandon me and let me die?"</p><p>"No! I wouldn't do that!" he says, breathing heavily inside his bag.</p><p>"And what would happen to you? Would you be able to make it to the tower? Would you even make it out of this school?"</p><p>Mono doesn't have an answer.</p><p>"If you get hurt... it's going to hurt me. And if I get hurt it could also hurt you too. I know we get mad at each other, that doesn't mean we have to stop being friends. But if you want me to go... I'll leave once were out of this school. Just let go if you do."</p><p>Mono and I stare at each other. Him considering, me waiting. He lets go of my hand so that he can stand and that's that I guess. It's sad that it didn't last long but us helping each other was longer than me and the girl from the Ne-</p><p>Hands grabbing my own, he pulls me to my feet... and he doesn't let go.</p><p>"...I'm sorry," I finally say. It doesn't begin to cover how we were acting but, better I say it than to leave it unspoken. Mono takes his sleeve and rubs it under my nose, wiping away the blood left over from when I ran into him.</p><p>"I'm sorry too," he says. Hand in hand with our friendship seemingly repaired, we continue on. Deeper into the school is the only direction we can go.</p><p>~</p><p>The farther we walk into this school the more we see signs of what had to of been a massive fight. Across the floors and along the walls are numerous bloodstains. They're quite old, long since dried and rusty in color. But curiously enough the only bodies we come across are what look like the shattered porcelain remains of dolls the size of a kid.</p><p>We continue on but Mono has been acting kind of strange since we came across the first broken doll even further back. His body language gives me the impression that he somehow knows what might have happened here, though how that's possible when he's never been to school, I'm unsure. Still, something must have clicked since he's pulling me into a small closet and checks the hall behind us to see if we've been followed.</p><p>"I know what school we're in now," he begins in a grave tone. "This was a reform school for the kids who's parents sent them away for misbehaving."</p><p>"Okay, you know where we are, but why is that helpful?" I ask.</p><p>"Because I met kids who ran away from here before everything got really bad with the tower. Whenever they talked about this school they mentioned how some toymaker visited and was testing out these dolls that were... alive in some way. I was told bad kids were supposed to show how they learned not to be bad by using the dolls, and the dolls were supposed to learn how to be like kids."</p><p>"So something went wrong I'm guessing."</p><p>"Yeah. The dolls learned how to act like kids alright, the bad kids who spent their time tormenting them. Also I heard they became cliquey."</p><p>"Clicky?"</p><p>"No, cliquey. They started to stick together with only themselves. The kids I mentioned also said that after a while the dolls became meaner and meaner. They'd pull dangerous pranks or beat up the real kids, sometimes a student would just disappear."</p><p>Mono checks the hall again to see if anything is trying to sneak up on us before he finishes his story, "And if they were becoming that bad back then, I think we can tell what happened to the students who were left behind here when things got worse from what we've seen in the halls."</p><p>This story paints a terrifying picture. There haven't been any TV's that we've seen in the school so far, so it'd almost seem like this would be a safe place to hide. But if there's some monstrous adult walking around and a bunch of murderous toys that are after you too... no wonder this place is such a bloodbath.</p><p>As good as it is to know that if we see someone that looks like a kid, it'll actually be something trying to kill us, that still doesn't change the fact we can't go back. Leaving the closet we move on.</p><p>~</p><p>Facing more of the same, avoiding the buckets and other similar kinds of traps that swing from the ceiling becomes easy once we realize they only seem to cover the middle of the halls. Still, it was all but inevitable that we'd run into one of the dolls as we walk around a corner.</p><p>It's pale porcelain complexion makes it stand out in the darkened hallway. From far away, it could probably pass off as any other boy in a school uniform. But up close its emotionless face and souless black eyes give it away as anything but. This one when confronted with the two of us runs away down the hall, scurrying over a locker thats partly blocking a door.</p><p>It would almost strike me as cowardly, if not for the traps, the story Mono told me and the dead in the halls who've long since vanished. Without any other paths available to take we follow the same one it took, aware that without a doubt our presence is known now.</p><p>Climbing the locker and through the door we see another one of the same looking endless maze of halls that we've walked through. This one has a toy sitting in the middle of it though, not unlike the one with the ball when we first started. There is an overturned table further down with deep gouges in the front of it that makes for a sort of baricade.</p><p>Mono and I both look up and see a light fixture that has been set to swing down, and given the damage on the front of the table we both come to the obvious realization. ""Trap,"" we say at the same time.</p><p>Crawling past the toy, we hear the telltale sound of the trap being activated. Even though the light that swings down passes harmlessly over our heads, it still makes for a scary experience to know your death could have been right above you.</p><p>We climb over the table and see the same bully from earlier staring at us from down the hall. It knew about that trap, so not only is it not cowardly, it has enough sense to try and lure us to our doom. It takes off once again, disappearing around another corner.</p><p>"I don't like this," I say to Mono. "We've seen that worse has happened here, so why hasn't it happened to us yet."</p><p>"Don't jinx us. There's plenty of school left for us to walk through, so lets just hope our luck hol-"</p><p>I don't hear the rest of what Mono has to say as I'm flung backwards from the space beside him. A locker lies on top of the spot where we were just standing and I don't even know if he's trapped or been crushed. He thought about saving me before saving himself, but despite his selfless act its only taken me out of the cook pot and onto the flames.</p><p>All around me, dolls jump out from the lockers we've passed and the space behind the one that was dropped on Mono. I'm surrounded by porcelain punks without a weapon to defend myself or a friend to watch my back. It's over... but I don't have to make it easy for them!</p><p>Grabbed by the back of my shirt, I swing an elbow towards whichever doll has me with all of my strength. I'm rewarded with the pain of my elbow shattering not-flesh as the doll who had hold of me has one of its eyes and a chunk of head shattered. More grab hold of my arms and I only manage to kick out at another doll in front of me, hard enough to knock it over briefly but nothing more than that.</p><p>I'm manhandled back down the hall from where we came to a rope ladder that was not there before. It leads up into the ceiling and I'm struck by the fact we've probably been watched this entire time, because how else would the traps have been launched at us. The dolls split the work, holding a part of me as they also hold the ladder. My struggles are fruitless as the entire ladder itself is pulled up into the ceiling, dolls and I included.</p><p>Before the panel that offer's my only way to escape is closed off and I'm dragged away, I think I hear the screams of Mono calling out my name. But it's too late, we've been separated with no way to reach one another. All I'm left with is a cold feeling of dread.</p><p>
  <em>I'm a prisoner again...</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Six Remembers: Stage Fright</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Lots of violence...</p><p>The bladed tool mentioned this chapter is essentially one of those vintage paper cutter blades that you used to see in schools.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Is this the common course that my life is going to take? Dragged away from a life I don't want to remember to the Nest, to be made into a plaything for the Pretender like all the other children who died around me. Dragged away during my aimless wandering of that forest by the hunter, forced to face a slow and torturous end by hunger or murder, like all his victims that came before.</p><p>Dragged away by Mono. Forced to help him in this pointless, and self-destruc-</p><p>...No. No that's not fair. Mono was a choice that I made all by myself. If anything it was I who should have tried to drag him away while we were still on that beach. But then, perhaps that would make me no better, were I to find that I've unintentionally become one of the the very same sort of monsters that I resent. That I would kill if given half a chance. Just as I would kill every last one of these dolls, now dragging me by my arms to some new and terrible end of senseless pain and death.</p><p>My fruitless efforts to resist are rewarded with a kick in the back by the doll who's eye that I shattered. Tumbling forward and landing hard, I'm picked up to be dragged off once again, my struggles made even weaker. Since fighting back is out of the question for now, all I can do is observe what's around me and see if I can make a run for it at a later time.</p><p>But that runs its own risks. What if doing that takes too long, and what of Mono? I'm not even sure if I actually heard him or if it was wishful thinking on my part. He could be dead beneath that locker or captured himself, dragged to some miserable corner of this place to face some unthinkable end of his own. Scared and in need of help, just like me...</p><p>
  <em>I wish we could've stayed together just a little bit longer.</em>
</p><p>~</p><p>My time to reflect and look for a path of escape that never presents itself is coming to an end as the dolls have dragged me before the entrance to a room. It's similar in a way to one that the Nest had, though this one lacks a screen but rather has a stage. It's a theater, and all around are dolls sitting in the seats.</p><p>As I'm dragged closer to the stage I see the red curtain is closed but sitting on a chair in front of it is a doll that has the appearance of a girl. She has a sash across her chest with the words "Class Rep" written across it. Other dolls are standing around on the stage here and there but that isn't the most surprising thing to be seen.</p><p>There are kids who are surrounded by the dolls, three of them. To think that I'd see real flesh and blood children, just like me. There's a tall boy in a red cloak, a girl with long blonde hair in a green cloak, and huddled between them is what looks like a younger boy in a cloak that's a darker green than the girl's.</p><p>Children in many colored cloaks...</p><p>Is it possible that these are the same kids that Mono mentioned when we crossed the river?</p><p>As the dolls drag me up onto the stage to be placed near the kids I can't help but shiver in fear a little. There are too many dolls around for me to make an escape, and it feels like we're all going to be part of some kind of act. As the other children and I are forced into our spots on the stage, with me near the blonde girl and closest to the curtain I'm assaulted by a terrible smell that must be coming from behind it.</p><p>The dolls are making us wait for some time. I'm not sure what it is we're waiting for until a boy looking doll walks into the theater and makes their way up to the stage.</p><p>"Where's the bag boy," says the class rep to this new arrival.</p><p>As she's waiting for an answer she glances over at me. The shock must be apparent on my face as I realize the dolls are able to speak, though that's overshadowed by what I've learned from eavesdropping. If Mono's not been brought in yet, does that mean the locker didn't crush him? Is it possible that he got out and is loose somewhere in the school? Taking her attention away from me she looks back at the boy doll.</p><p>"Well the thing is..." he begins, wringing his hands, "The bitch was fighting back real hard, so it took all of us to drag her here. But that meant none of us could stay behind to keep an eye on the boy who should have been stuck. But when we got back... the damn locker we trapped him in was empty."</p><p>It's hard to tell what's going on behind the soulless eyes and emotionless faces that these dolls have. I can't tell if the class rep is simply considering what she's been told or stewing in a silent rage. That she punches the boy doll in his mouth, shattering where the jaw is and leaving him sprawled out on the floor, tells me she's not pleased at the very least. It also tells me that she's very dangerous.</p><p>The dolls who make up the audience give a raucous cheer at this display of violence as the class rep grabs the boy doll by his uniform and hauls him back up to his feet. She hisses in his face and tells him, "Well you and you're worthless little team of hall monitors had better fucking find him. Because if you think what I've done to you is bad, you're gonna be really fucking sorry if the teacher ends up having her lessons disturbed."</p><p>He's shaking so much that even I can tell the boy doll is scared as class rep drags him to the edge of the stage and throws him off. She leaves him with the parting words of, "Move your stupid ass!" as he and a few of the other dolls on stage run off, freshly motivated to find my friend.</p><p>With the little monsters sent away on their task the class rep turns her attention back to us. The show must go on and she starts by addressing her audience, "My fellow bullies of Pale City Reform School, we have in our midst... some trespassers."</p><p>Bullies? A fitting but underwhelming term for them that doesn't quite capture the violence that they are capable of given what Mono and I saw while we were walking through blood stained halls. The dolls in the crowded seats boo and hurl abuses at the other kids and I as the class rep circles us, not quite finished with her speech.</p><p>"Trespassing children, no more different than than the kids who were here when we first arrived. Who attacked us for being different, for not being of flesh. Hurting us because we were blank slates and porcelain fakes... who aren't even real. But they learned how real our indignation was when we finally rose up and left all of the brats who lived here as cold unliving shells just like they claimed us to be. Just like we will continue to do with any child who intrudes upon our sanctuary."</p><p>The dolls are silent but the hostility being directed at us speaks volumes. A snap of the class rep's fingers gives a signal to the other dolls on stage with us as we are all suddenly grabbed by our arms and forced down to our knees.</p><p>"Headsman!" the rep says in a sing song voice. My dread towards everything happening shoots up even more as a new bully walks out from behind the curtain. It's another one that looks like any of the other boy dolls except for two obvious differences. He has a sash of his own that displays the words "head monitor" meaning he must be important in some way. He's also lugging a large curved blade of some sort behind him, its chipped and rusted appearance showing considerable use.</p><p>All eyes are on us as the class rep holds a hand under her chin, pointing at each of us with the other seemingly considering which of us is to be her first victim. We soon find out as she finally settles on the youngest boy in green. He cries out as the dolls drag him forward, his friend in the red cloak struggles to free himself while the blonde girl quietly mouths the word no repeatedly.</p><p>As he stands before the rep crying, she wipes away his tears with her thumb and says, "Don't be a bitch, it will all be over soon." She sends a brutal punch into his stomach that causes him to fold in on himself. Choking for air, one of the dolls that held the boys arms grabs his hair and pulls up, presenting his neck to the headsman. A nod from the rep is all that's needed for the headsman to take a swing... and the boy who had just a moment ago been a terrified kid surrounded by monsters is no longer with us. His body is dragged off the stage by the head monitor and the head kicked by the rep towards the curtain. The cheers from earlier are redoubled in volume</p><p>I'm shocked into a complete sort of stillness that causes me to stop fighting the dolls that hold my arms. Not because I've given up but because my chances to survive this are slipping away and I can't waste any effort whatsoever except for when the time will be right. Looking over I see that the girl has lost any fight that could have been left in her. The dolls aren't even holding onto her arms anymore, she's frozen in place, completely surrendered. But the boy on the other hand...</p><p>With a loud scream he springs forward with his feet and swings his arms the same direction. Since he's bigger than the dolls holding his arms it's enough to cause the three of them to fall over in a flailing pile. But with revenge on his mind he gets up faster then the dolls who held him and charges the class rep, his fists clenched. He cries out, "You heartless monster!" and throws a punch at the rep's head.</p><p>The theater is not filled with the sound of porcelain shattering but rather a wet meaty thump as she steps inside the arc of the punch. The boy in red goes limp, only being propped up by the class rep's shoulder as she says into his ear, "The only monsters I've ever met have all been children such as you. But as far as heartless is concerned..."</p><p>Pushing him off of her the boy falls back with a stain of crimson blooming from out of his chest. In her hand is a bloody scissors that she must have concealed somewhere.</p><p>"I suppose we're both the same, at least in that regard," she finally finishes. A weak, blood filled cough is the last retort from the boy in red who is now covered in even more of that color. A few shuddering breaths are all he can manage before those also come to an end.</p><p>"How boring and predictable. As if I didn't fight my way to the top of the class. Fucking cretin had to make me stain my hands with blood too."</p><p>I watch as the class rep stabs her scissors back into the chest of the dead boy as she wipes her hands off using part of his cloak. Satisfied that she's cleaned them enough she pulls her scissors out of his corpse, cleaning them off on an unsoiled part of his cloak as well.</p><p>With that finished the class rep calls her head monitor back on the stage to remove the boy's head. He stays by her side from now on though, leaving the task of removing the body to a different pair of dolls.</p><p>The rep finally turns her attention to the last cloaked child. As she calls her over with a whistle and a wave of her hand I watch as she walks to her death. I want to call out to her not to go but nothing I do now would be able to change what is about to happen. I'm just as much of a witness now at this point.</p><p>The girl in green stops in front of the class rep and waits for whatever will happen to happen. The rep isn't having it though. She circles the blonde girl and taunts her all the while.</p><p>"What's wrong? Don't have any fight left in you? Not going to curse me out as a depraved monster? No raging at your fate and the unfairness that you and your lot had visited upon them... Well come on now speak up."</p><p>"Just end it," the girl in green whispers.</p><p>"What was that?" asks the rep.</p><p>I watch as the green cloaked girl sinks to her knees and looks down at the floor. "Just get it over with, please," she says and waits for the end.</p><p>I wish I could say that the girl in green didn't give up. That rather, she was prepared to face her end with a silent but brave acceptance of the inevitable. That she wasn't made into an outlet for the reps frustration.</p><p>The kick the rep lashes out with into the blonde girls face shatters this wish. All I can do is watch as the class rep gets on top of the blonde girl and proceeds to rain punches down upon her face, pulping it so as to leave her unrecognizable. The only sign that her victim is even alive is the weak grasping at nothing of her fingers until even that small hint of life finally ends.</p><p>I can't tell if the girl in green is actually dead or alive but incapable of expressing the suffering she would be going through. A swing from the head monitor and the wet sound of meat slicing and wood shattering puts that question to rest.</p><p>I watch as once again the class rep kicks the last girls head over to where her friends heads lay. As she starts walking up to me I'm greeted with, "So fucking boring. Are you going to bore me as well?"</p><p>I was afraid. It's been a while since I found myself in a spot this bad. But I also feel something else now. Something I haven't felt so intensely since the hunter. Rage. Rage at this monster before me.</p><p>I bare my teeth as I wait for us to begin.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Six Remembers: Breaking Point</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I've seen too many monsters in my short life.</p><p>I thought the Pretender was a monster for stealing away the lives of the children who were delivered to her, made to be nothing more than her playthings.</p><p>I thought the hunter was a monster for stealing away the lives of children who lost their way, wandering the woods in search of someplace better than from where they came.</p><p>And I certainly think these dolls are monsters as well. Stealing away the lives of children with the misfortune of crossing their path. For intruding on a school in a dead city that has nothing more to teach for the future.</p><p>And yet, these dolls would have me believe that the children I saw murdered in front of me were monsters. Same as the kids who used to have classes here, who tormented the dolls until they became a reflection for the very cruelty they were subjected to, and that they returned in kind. No... no the kids I saw murdered just now were not monsters. They were just lost children who died scared and in pain for no reason like so many others.</p><p>Will I finally join their number as well?</p><p>The class rep draws me out of my thoughts as she crouches down in front of me. Her eyes of black glass meet my own as I stare at her from on my knees, my arms outstretched and still restrained. She reaches out and lifts my chin a bit more to show just how much I'm at her nonexistent mercy.</p><p>"So, what is it about you that would make yourself less boring than that other lot who lost their heads? Hmm. What makes you special, minuscule monster, tiny demon, small hellion... little nightmare," she says awaiting my reply.</p><p>Little nightmare... to think that something could describe what has been most of my life in such a simple term. There are times I fear that I may start to become a monster myself, turn into one of the very things I would murder without mercy or remorse. But to be a nightmare for the monsters of this world... yes I could embrace that, so that's what I'll do.</p><p>Still doesn't change that I'm sorry we had to part ways too soon Mono. I wish there was a way for me to escape or for you to rescue me this time but there isn't. Too many dolls to fight and no way out. But maybe I can distract the dolls who are here and keep them from coming after you for at least a little bit. Help buy you some time to make your own escape.</p><p>Gathering my resolve I shake my head out the class rep's grip. I smirk a little to get her attention and watch as she tilts her head slightly, leaning in. I do the only thing I can do in this position to keep her and all of the other dolls focus on me.</p><p>I spit in her face.</p><p>The silence in the theater is absolute. There are no cheers at my reckless resistance. No screams of outrage over my foolish defiance. No hands clap and no fists strike the chairs of our audience. The silence of anticipation is all that's left.</p><p>The class rep stares at me in what I can only guess is shock before I'm punched in the nose. She follows up quickly by grabbing it hard, squeezing painfully and forcing my nostrils closed so that blood starts to run down the back of my throat. I cough and sputter as the rep pulls out her scissors and holds them to my throat. I leave them stained in the blood I'm spitting up while trying not to choke.</p><p>Her hands are shaking in fury and I can only curse the fact that this wasn't able to stall her for longer. All I can do now is wait for my throat to be opened up, and the darkness that will follow. But to my relief and confusion she pulls back, wiping away at her face. That relief is short lived as she punches me in the stomach, causing me to double over in even more pain as the dolls holding my arms release me.</p><p>Looking up weakly, I stare as she walks back to the chair she sat on when I first arrived and takes her place on it, probably deciding how I am to be punished. Before too long she finally decides my fate.</p><p>"You know, I was going to wait until we caught the boy. You looked haunted enough while watching those other dumbasses die so I figured it'd be a little amusing to make you watch him die as well. But we're not going to do that now. No you're going to have your fucking head cut off nice and simple."</p><p>This doesn't make sense. Why would she settle for-</p><p>"But that fucker in the bag... oh he's going to suffer. He's going to pay for the debt of pain you've fucking amassed and he will die very, very slowly, but not before he knows that you're the reason for it. Enjoy your trip to that eternal oblivion knowing you will be the cause of his final miseries. Headsman, kill the bitch."</p><p>So much pain. I can't even stand as the head monitor makes his way over to me, blade dragging behind him. As one of the dolls that held my arms reaches out to grab my hair I watch in surprise as it is shoved away by another. The one who's face I partly shattered when Mono and I were separated.</p><p>"I want to hold the bitches hair!" he shouts out, approaching the class rep's chair.</p><p>I don't know how this is going to play out but every little moment is time to recover. Watch and wait, don't let them know how hurt you are.</p><p>As I do this the class rep looks bored with an elbow on her knee and cheek in hand. "Why should I let you have the honors. It's your own fault you couldn't even restrain the bitch with a full team of monitors. The same monitors that have made a mess of bag boys capture, which you didn't even follow to finish the hunt," she says, leaning in at this last bit. She never passes on the chance of projecting herself as a threat.</p><p>"She fucking maimed me! I should have some payback like we did with the bullies back in the day. I'm owed that much at least," he says.</p><p>There are murmurs of agreement in the audience at this point. The head monitor is looking over at the rep waiting for her to decide.</p><p>"Whatever," she says, waiving her hand like I'm trash that bears no more of her attention.</p><p>The slight delay has given me enough time that the pain in my stomach is not enough to feel like I couldn't move if needed, but running is still not an option. As I watch the broken eyed doll walk up to me I have a crazy idea.</p><p>Maybe I can lower the number of dolls who'll chase you by one Mono.</p><p>From where I'm kneeling I tuck my chin into my chest as hard as I can before one eye grabs my hair. As he struggles to make me raise my head and expose my neck I see from the corner of my eye the head monitor take his spot beside me, waiting for a chance at a clean cut.</p><p>"Lift your head you!" one eye cries out while slapping the side of my head, clapping an ear.</p><p>The pain distracts me momentarily as my eyes glare up at him in rage. I can't afford the distraction and return what little sight I have of him back on to the head monitor. And slowly, ever so slowly I try to reduce the amount of resistance I give, letting my neck up as much as I want it, to the space I want it.</p><p>The head monitor must think I've had my head lifted enough for him to cut as I catch a glance of him thrumming his fingers across the handle of his blade. One eye must think so too as he finally shouts out, "Now!"</p><p>To fail now will mean death. In the briefest moment that I no longer see the monitor's hands by his hip, coming around for a swing I do what I've been planning for this whole struggle.</p><p>I stop fighting.</p><p>With my eyes now squeezed shut and in desperation I quit pulling my head down and towards my chest but rather jerk my head up and backwards, suddenly working with the one eyed doll to move my head in the direction he wanted it. Despite the awkward position of being hunched over I also try to throw as much of my weight back as possible to avoid the blade that must be swinging down.</p><p>Will I hear the sound of meat being sliced if I fail? This is the thought that runs through my mind in this brief moment. But I do not hear the sound of meat being cut. Rather, it is the sound of porcelain shattering, like plates being dropped.</p><p>Laid out on my back with my legs stuck under me at an awkward angle I squirm until I can scoot backwards on my butt somewhat as quick as I can. The monitor is staring at me but the audience has their attention on the bully I maimed, now even more so with both arms shattered while he writhes on his back.</p><p>"YOU FUCKING BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! MY ARMS!" he screams out from the ground unable to pick himself up.</p><p>The class rep is leaving her chair once more and walks over. She doesn't even look at the doll who's now thoroughly disfigured as she smashes his head in with her foot, ending the screams.</p><p>"I swear good help is hard to come by these days, you know? But you know whats even harder? Good entertainment, and that makes you far more interesting than I gave you credit for," she says, all while clapping her hands.</p><p>~</p><p>The head monitor and I are staring each other down from across the stage. The class rep has decided that since I'm more then a match for the dolls worst, I am going to face their best. So now we'll be the ones to provide entertainment for those in attendance by fighting each other.</p><p>I've never been in an actual fight. Yes I've struggled day after day to try and survive, but that's a different sort of fighting. I've killed monsters with mixed amounts of success. But an actual scrap with someone else similar in size to me will be a first. That it will be against a homicidal doll with a giant blade didn't seem the most likely way for my first time end up and the stakes behind it even more unlikely.</p><p>The class rep has made me an offer to hold off on my execution, so long as I will fight for it. That she will spare my life until they find Mono and that I will keep my head for now if I win. But if I lose... I've since learned what will become of me if I lose.</p><p>A pile made from the heads of children. As far back as the wall of the stage we're standing on.</p><p>They were hidden behind the curtain that was finally drawn away from the stage we stood on this entire time to set the scene, and are the source of the awful smell I first noticed when I was brought up here. There must be hundreds, maybe a thousand heads, the old ones near the bottom within a pool putrid rot. The dolls most recent victims are nearer to the top, less decayed and staring out with the sightless clouded eyes that only the dead are capable of.</p><p>Maybe I'd be more shocked by the scale of this slaughter if I could allow myself to take it all in. But I can't right now. I have to put any distracting thoughts out of my mind.</p><p>At least I'd like to tell myself that. Maybe I'm just becoming numb to the numerous horrors around me.</p><p>The class rep draws my attention back as she makes a whistling noise from where she sits on her chair. Throwing her scissors at me, they slide across the ground as they land, stopping near my feet. I pick them up and notice they're still covered in my blood from earlier.</p><p>"It wouldn't be any fun if it was over too soon so you can borrow those. Don't worry about returning them, I'll get them back one way or another," says the rep.</p><p>Gripping the scissors hard I look around one last time to see if I can escape somehow, to avoid what I'm going to be forced into. The rep notices and gives me a warning, "Running with scissors is dangerous you know. Running away on the other hand would be fatal. You can win and keep your head or lose and have a better view than me from atop that fucking pile. NOW FIGHT!"</p><p>That we would start with so little warning catches me off guard but the head monitor doesn't hesitate at all as he starts moving towards me. His stance is similar to Mono's when he was dragging that axe around in the cabin. But this doll is no kid lugging around a tool too heavy for him. He moves quickly and is soon within range of me, heaving the blade overhead for a downward slash.</p><p>Dodging to the side I avoid the blade as it splinters the wood where I stood. Swinging the scissors I tear a scratch across his porcelain face and shatter one of his glass eyes.</p><p>A normal kid would be out of the fight. They'd drop the blade and reach up to cover their ruined eye, crying and in pain. There would be no more fight left in them, defenceless. But this is not a normal kid...</p><p>The monitor shoves his shoulder into me, knocking me off my feet and scrambling away. With one hand pulling to loosen his blade out the floor, he uses the other to brush out the shards of glass left over from his ruined eye.</p><p>With his blade removed from the floor he starts moving towards me once more. I don't want to keep dodging but I can't stay still for long. I back away while trying to circle around him which is when I notice that my strike from earlier did more than I realized. When I move around on the side still with an eye he doesn't turn his head, but on the damaged side he does. Could he have a blind spot?</p><p>I go on the attack by circling and backing away in the direction of his supposed blind spot, until I don't. Stopping suddenly I rush forward, too close for him to swing his blade. Using the scissors I stab into the side of his chest a couple times. This does nothing as he drops his blade to grab me by the shirt and roughly tosses me across the stage.</p><p>I'm slow to get back on me feet and hearing the sound of the blade being dragged across the ground I roll to the side as that noise disappears. The impact shattering more of the stage where I'd been. My frenzied attempts to stand find me near the class reps chair and the head monitor is having none of that, abandoning his blade to run over to me. I'm dragged to my feet as I'm whipped away from her, somehow managing not to trip over my flailing self.</p><p>As the monitor walks back to retrieve his blade I'm struck by how strange that was. He could have beaten me down easily with his bare hands but he didn't. He just did whatever would get me away from the rep fastest, dropping whatever he was doing right then to see it done. As if he was protecting her.</p><p>I have an idea... It's a longshot and I hate what I'll have to do but this might be the only way for me to kill him, much less survive this.</p><p>I continue to do what I did earlier by backing away from the head monitor while staying in his blind spot. When I finally have him in the spot on the stage that I want him I wait for him to swing and dodge to the side that he isn't blind.</p><p>His blade crashes down in a space where I probably would have been inside his blind spot had I assumed he wouldn't realize what I was doing. Still I don't rush him as I've already seen how little I'm able to harm him but rather I run to the spot on stage with the only other people on it. The heads of the children in the cloaks.</p><p>Regretting that its come to this I grab the hair of the blonde girl and start swinging her head in a circle at my side. As the head monitor starts walking towards me I get ready to attack before laughing fills the the theater with a cry of, "Stop!"</p><p>The head monitor stops in his tracks as we both look over at the class rep who is shaking in laughter from her chair, elbows on the armrests looking at me. She calls over mockingly, "What the hell are you going to do with that bitch's head bitch? You gonna brain him with it or something?"</p><p>With anger replacing regret I mutter, "or something." And with that said I use the momentum of the girl's head I've been swinging and launch it.</p><p>Straight at the class rep.</p><p>These dolls can't show emotion on their faces but I have to think that if the rep could it would be one of shock and perhaps the head monitor's would be one of panic. But I'm not after the monitor's panicked feelings but rather his panicked response as he let's go of his blade and dives to catch the head I've thrown.</p><p>He does catch the head but this small moment is what I need and since I won't have it again I give my everything to it.</p><p>Jumping on his back I use the scissors that have still been held in my other hand and stab down into the back of his head. I punch through the porcelain and cracks spread out from the hole I've made but still the monitor struggles. Cutting lose and with all of the rage at what I've had to do I show no mercy. I repeatedly stab down with the scissors, over and over, smashing more of the monitor's head until I'm left with nothing more than my bloody hand and the shattered headless remains of the class reps headsman.</p><p>There are no sounds from the audience over my victory. The only sound that fills the theater is that of my heavy breathing. That is until a scream tears itself out of the class rep who jumps at me from her chair.</p><p>I'm knocked over onto my back and despite how tired I've become I still try to stab up at one of her eyes with the scissors. The rep is faster though with one hand catching my wrist and the other around my throat. She's straddling me as she starts squeezing my wrist until I'm forced to drop the scissors. I'm completely at her mercy once more as I desperately try to claw at her other hand to loosen the grip on my throat.</p><p>"Oh you do know how to put on a show and truth be told, I didn't think you'd win. But you pulled it off and while I could go back in my word I'm not going to do that. Instead I think we'll keep you till we catch bag boy," she says, all the while my struggles are getting weaker as she continues to choke me.</p><p>"Actually, since you make for such a spectacle I think we'll drag the two of you to the gym once we catch him, put on a show for the entire class. I think we'll have the two of you fight each other. You can kill him or he can kill you but he'll still have that debt of pain to pay if he does..."</p><p>This is worse than anything I would've imagined but I can't stop it. My vision is starting to get fuzzy around the edges.</p><p>"You two over there, come string this bitch up once I put her out. I want her where she can't escape and don't break her anymore than this. Otherwise you'll be the entertainment for later. Now then, gotta draw up some plans, get things organized..."</p><p>My arms finally give out. I can't raise them anymore.</p><p>"Hmm, you still with us? Don't worry bitch, it'll all be over soon."</p><p>Everything goes black.</p><p>~</p><p>"!"</p><p>My head hurts.</p><p>"...x"</p><p>Everything hurts.</p><p>"Do... ....ry g... ...wn!"</p><p>
  <em>Why does everything always have to end in pain.</em>
</p><p>A sudden lurching motion draws me out of my half conscious-</p><p>I'm falling and there's pain across my back as the wind is knocked out of me. Why is everything always trying to hurt me!? I feel hands grabbing at me as my vision slowly comes back to me, blurry and indistinct.</p><p>The dolls... they've finally come to finish the job.</p><p>JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!</p><p>I start to struggle as the hands start grabbing at me even harder. Through the haze of vision that hasn't come entirely back yet I see black eyes staring down at me.</p><p>The eyes... go for the eyes!</p><p>Hooking my thumb and striking out with all my strength I push into the eye with all I can give. I feel soft, wet, warmth around my thumb as the doll rears back and screams in agony.</p><p>That's right, how do you like it when-</p><p>Wet warmth? Screams of agony?</p><p>The fog from being unconscious is disappearing and I'm starting to realize that there's a problem.</p><p>Dolls eyes are cold and made of glass. They don't feel pain like a child would or rear back from it.</p><p>Like a child would.</p><p>"Oh no..."</p><p>My heart sinks as I struggle to prop myself on my elbows and look at who I fought off. I see the familiar trench coat of a child with whom I've been traveling, hunched over with hands where their face would be beneath a bag, crying in pain. My friend.</p><p>"Oh Mono..."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Six Remembers: Shattered</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If you get hurt it will hurt me, and if I get hurt it could also hurt you...</p><p>I said that to him not so long ago as a way to try and bring us closer together, to repair our friendship that was starting to break. So that we would not be so petty over small offenses and for us to continue looking out for each other. All undone in a blind moment of panic... that probably left him blind.</p><p>Maybe I really am just a little nightmare. A nightmare child that brings danger and death to everyone around me. Friend and foe fall all the same, caught up in my fears and pain.</p><p>I can't help but continue to curse myself for what I've done to Mono as I stare at him from where I lay on the cold tiles of this restroom. His screams have died down but he's still taking shuddering breaths in the corner of the room, his hand and knees on the floor, the other hand covering his eye.</p><p>While I can't be sure of where we are in the school or how Mono was able to find me, I do know that we can't stay here for long. Working through the pain in my back I pick myself up and notice something is tugging at my leg. There is a rope wrapped around it leading up to the ceiling and the rest of it is hanging loose near broken boards and an oversized hammer.</p><p>Mono must have smashed those boards to get me down. But did he even try to untie the rope first?</p><p>Dwelling on this won't help either of us. And besides, I wouldn't have been able to get myself down anyway since it seems the dolls who strung me up stuck around to keep watch. At least, that's assuming they're the same as those who've had their heads smashed in near the entrance to this room. Speaking of dolls we really do need to leave before the class rep or someone she sends ends up finding us here in the state that we're in.</p><p>Once I've finished unwrapping the rope from my leg which is covered in a new bruise among the many I've recently earned, I call out to Mono as I walk over to him.</p><p>"Mono... I'm so sorry about what happened but we need to-"</p><p>This is all I'm able to say once I'm within an arms length. As I reach out to him, I'm shoved away by the hand that isn't covering his eye, as he's shouting, "Get away from me you maniac!"</p><p>Despite the horrors I've recently witnessed and the fights that I've been through, it's this act out of all those that causes me to wipe away the wetness that's starting to gather under my eyes. This isn't something that I can rush him on despite the danger we're in the longer we linger here.</p><p>Looking around the restroom I take notice of a cracked mirror propped against the wall with some shards lying on the floor. I can't imagine he will want to see what I've done to him but one of us needs to know how badly he's hurt and if he keeps pushing me away, it has to be him. But as I walk up to the mirror I can't help but stare in shock when I take in the sight of the horrible state I'm also in.</p><p>There's the bruise from the rope that was wrapped around my leg but that pales in comparison to the others. There are marks left from fingers that were squeezed around my throat and wrist. My hand is covered in blood, mine is old from when I cut it killing the head monitor and new from Mono, stabbing my thumb into his eye. My nose is bruised and I have dark marks running under my eyes and dried blood stuffed up my nostrils. Touching these marks is a bad idea since they sting quite a bit and as I hiss in pain I see my teeth covered in that same blood from when the class rep squeezed my bloody nose shut.</p><p>It's no wonder why Mono didn't try to undo the rope I was strung up with. He must have thought I was practically dead in his panic to get me down quick as he could. If only I'd known it was him and not more dolls, come to drag me away.</p><p>After blowing the blood out of my nose I grab a piece from the mirror and walk over to Mono. He's still in the corner but sitting now, curled up and hugging his knees. One of us could get hurt again if he keeps lashing out, so to avoid a repeat of what happened before I call out to him before getting too close.</p><p>"Mono, I know you're hurt and you don't want to see how bad it looks. But it's better to know if your eye is worse than it is so I've got this piece of a mirror here for you to check. If I try to give it to you, you won't shove me away, right? I don't want you to get hurt again."</p><p>The concern I'm trying to show for him must come across as less than convincing since he doesn't put his hand out to take what I'm offering. Putting the mirror shard down next to him I back off but I'm not even a few steps away before he reaches out and throws it against the far wall, shattering that piece further.</p><p>He let's out an angry huff as he stands up and turns to face me. There's blood on his hands but even more has stained the space around the eyehole of his bag that runs down onto the lapels of his coat. The difference between his eyes is startling. One stares at me with hatred that is barely different from how I must have looked at the dolls in the theater and the other... the other is a ruined orb of flesh in place of an eye. A gash runs through the iris and has destroyed the matching color that his eyes were, leaving only the red color of blood to cover the white of his eye now.</p><p>Mono starts off by saying, "I think it's a little late for you to worry about hurting me given what you've done. And why should I bother looking at what's happened to my eye Six?" Not even giving me a chance to answer, his voice is dripping with venom as he shouts, "It's not like I'll be seeing anything with it ever again thanks to you!"</p><p>He won't. He won't because how can a kid fix something like this themselves? And even if someone could fix it who would even be willing and what would it cost in a world that shows no mercy to children?</p><p>"I didn't know it was you! If I did I never would have-" is all I'm able to say before he turns his back on me.</p><p>Mono is refusing to hear me out. Far as he's concerned, there's nothing more to be said about what I've done to him as he goes over to the window that we'll be leaving through. I climb up beside him and he won't even look at me, saying, "You take the lead now, you still have the eyes for it."</p><p>I don't know how or if we'll ever get past this. Where would we even start?</p><p>~</p><p>With one hand covering his eye and the other lifting, we manage to budge the window enough to make it through. I take the lead like I was told and walk across a plank of wood that extends to the open window opposite this one. There's a piano sitting in the middle of this room but more importantly is there are no dolls inside, so I wave my hand for Mono to follow.</p><p>While Mono avoids me by the window I walk to the only door in this room to see what's in the next room but despite how much I push the door won't budge. I slap my good hand against the door in frustration. Why couldn't this be a simple exit? Letting out a sigh I look around the room to check if there's a vent or some other route we can take and see nothing of note. Nothing, except for a crank that has a rope running up to the ceiling, the same rope that is tied to the piano.</p><p>"Hmmm, maybe we can make our own exit," I say, wondering if the piano is heavy enough to smash through the floor.</p><p>Giving the crank a push it quickly becomes apparent that I'm not able to spin it on my own. "Mono, I need your help. Come over here and lend me a hand," I say, needing his extra strength to spin the handle.</p><p>He shows no willingness to help as he stays near the window and calls out to me, "I don't know Six, the last time I tried to help you I lost an eye over it and I'd rather keep the one I still got."</p><p>Sympathetic I may be but that is quickly turning into annoyance as I bite back with, "Do you really want to stick around here? No? Then stop being stubborn and help me with this already." A "tsk" is all I hear as he finally walks over and helps me spin the crank with one of his hands, the other still covering his eye like it's fixed in place.</p><p>Spinning the crank is exhausting but the piano is being lifted higher and higher. Just as I think that a little bit more should be enough to smash through the floor I hear the sound of a snapping rope and the piano plummets, shattering the floor but not quite breaking through.</p><p>I could scream over how tired I am that nothing can ever just work out according to plan. Climbing onto the piano I start to stomp and jump on the keys, making a terrible racket. For once however, my anger serves me well as the extra weight seems to be enough to make the piano shift quite a bit, the floor groaning beneath. Mono doesn't even need to be asked to join in as he climbs onto the keys, jumping as I jump until finally we crash through the floor in a cacophony of destruction. It's a good thing we land on the keys and that the room below us wasn't too tall, otherwise we might have broken a bone or two.</p><p>Looking around this new room the first thing I notice is that our exit is locked tight with a padlock. My anger is returning in full until I hear a new voice behind me.</p><p>"What the hell is all that racket?"</p><p>A doll, stuck behind a grate is staring at Mono and I like we just fell from the sky, which we did in a way. He's gripping the bars, laughing and taunting us with a key as we walk over to him since he can't quite fit through the space at the bottom.</p><p>"Here I was thinking I was a prisoner because this grate fell behind me after I locked the teacher out. Guess that makes you my prisoners now, which is too bad since I'm the one with the key to that door. But tell you what, if you and one eye lift this grate and let me out, I'll be sure to kill you ni-"</p><p>These are the last words out of the doll's mouth as Mono's hand shoots through one of the gaps in the grate and seizes him by the front of his school uniform. A violent pull with all his might by Mono causes the doll's head to shatter against the grate and the key that was in his hand to drop within arms reach of us. Retrieving the key is simple and once Mono has it he tosses it at me, hitting me in the chest before it drops into my hands. The dark look I send him does nothing as he waves his hand to shoo me away.</p><p>~</p><p>It's hard knowing that not so long ago Mono and I would have walked these halls together hand in hand. Now he hangs back, distant and staring a hole into the back of my head. Fortunately for us this section of the school doesn't seem to be used by the dolls given the lack of traps and that we only saw the one so far.</p><p>Still, there must be someone down here as we begin to hear the sound of a piano echoing down the halls from a distance and it's getting louder the further we continue. That there is an actual rhythm and melody to the music as opposed to the noise of keys being slammed at random is worrying since it isn't a doll playing most likely.</p><p>Sticking close to the wall I peak around a corner and see the last thing I would have expected. A doll with its back to me drawing on the floor. But this isn't any doll because lying on the floor next to her is a scissors coated in the rusty red that is unmistakably dried blood, my blood. The class rep is here, waiting just down the hall from one of the rooms which the music has to be coming from.</p><p>Turning back to Mono I grab him by the front of his coat and hiss, "Wait here!" He flinches in my grip but doesn't run or push me away. Leaving him behind I turn the corner and silently stalk up to the doll under the sound of the piano. This doll has caused me so much grief. Caused Mono and I to both suffer terribly by her hands and actions and she destroyed the first bond I've been able to make with someone else. But now she's distracted, talking to herself as I draw near.</p><p>"Fucking teacher, always making me ask for her permission to use the gym, and then makes me wait till she's done with her stupid songs. Bitch doesn't even go into the gym. Hmph whatever, it'll all be worth it once we catch bag boy, then we can drag both of them in there and torture him to death in front of the girl, in front of everyone. Now should we string him up by the neck or press him with weights first..."</p><p>The way Mono's treating me hurts. It angers me but the sadness from which that anger springs doesn't go away and feels worse as more time passes. And she's the reason for all of it. These feelings help me focus as I stand over her, shaking not in fear but anticipation at the violence that is about to unfold.</p><p>Let that anger turn to rage, and become a nightmare made real.</p><p>Jumping on her back, it's surprising how quickly she stops drawing and reaches for the scissors by her side shouting, "Who in the hell!?" I do not hesitate though as I smash her face into the floor, as hard as I can, over and over. She's far sturdier than the other dolls and her hand is getting closer to the scissors but just as her fingers close around them I hear the sound of porcelain cracking and her struggles end. Pushing myself off, I look down and see why she has no fight left in her.</p><p>Her head and face has cracks running all over, even wrapping around to the back. This must have made her lose control of her body. It's as if she's having a seizure, limbs twitching but no strength or coordination behind them. I consider taking the scissors and killing her just as I did the head monitor until I spy a hammer propped against the wall.</p><p>She wanted to make me watch as they tortured Mono slowly till death but that isn't going to happen now. Grabbing the hammer, I drag it over knowing that I'm not strong enough to swing it overhead... but I am strong enough to lift it up to my knees and slam it into the floor.</p><p>She's turned her head and is shaking as she stares at me. A part of me hopes it's in fear at the nightmare that's fallen upon her. Leaning over I meet her still intact black eyes with my own and say, "Don't worry bitch, it'll all be over soon."</p><p>And with her at my mercy that has long since stopped being a weakness I can afford to have, I smash the hammer down onto her hand, shattering it. I smash the hand gripping the scissors. I smash her arms at the shoulders. I smash her feet. I smash her knees. With nothing of worth left to smash I drop the hammer and grab the scissors stained with me and stab them into her back, leaving them planted in her as I return what was borrowed.</p><p>The class rep is lucky she can't feel pain like a child as she didn't cry out once, though maybe she isn't capable of doing so anymore. The only sounds now is that of my own heavy breathing and the piano that still plays in a room down the hall. Looking down the other end of the hall I see Mono standing there, having seen what I've done.</p><p>I don't care anymore if he wants to judge me. I did this for him as much as myself. Standing up I spit on the face of the twitching rep as I begin walking away and down the hall. I figure Mono will catch up at his own pace until he calls out to me.</p><p>"I thought you killed monsters Six?"</p><p>Turning my head I see Mono standing over the rep, scissors in hand while she continues to stare at me. I let Mono know what I think of his pointless question with a simple truth as I turn to walk away once more.</p><p>"I have killed her."</p><p>The sound of shattering porcelain shortly follows. I can only wonder if Mono would have shown such mercy had he seen the horrors that I was witness to, was made part of.</p><p>
  <em>Would he be so merciful had it been him who went through the sort of pain I did?</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Six Remembers: Like Fears... In Rain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The noises we make can both be dangerous for others and a danger to ourselves.</p><p>The monsters we avoid have little to fear from tiny children, stomping around with heavy breathing, their creaking lumbering bodies wielding instruments of death without a care and in delight at the misery they cause.</p><p>But to us, such careless acts are not permitted. Suffering in silence is the way to survive. The rhythm of your heart filling your ears, as proof you live yet in beats both fast and slow while you hide away and hold your breath. To draw attention is death, this is all we know.</p><p>Which is why I find this moment at odds with what I've known as I listen to the music being played from the floor above us. That this monster's distracted tapping of the piano's keys is making the noise that can cover the sounds of our own escape.</p><p>The stomping of feet behind me draws my attention as I see Mono beginning to climb the set of steps that are the way forward. He must want out of this place pretty bad if he's grown tired enough of my standing here lost in my own head to take the lead once more. Walking up the stairs and with the sound of the piano's repeating song growing louder I find myself with the distracting thought of a different song.</p><p>
  <em>I much prefer the melody of that music box I once had.</em>
</p><p>Reaching the top of the stairs I see Mono is waiting for me by the closed door that the teacher is behind. But with the door locked and not having seen any other routes to take I have a sinking feeling that we'll need to retrace our steps until Mono points up at the wall. Near the top of a tall filing cabinet I can see a hatch to a vent we could crawl through, if not for the heavy box sitting in front of it or that the way up is piles of junk stacked on a smaller cabinet that is still too tall to reach on our own.</p><p>Putting my back to the smaller cabinet I place my hands in front of me in an offer to boost Mono up the same way we've done so before. He refuses my help by grabbing a book from a stack that is piled up on the floor. With a flat voiced command of, "Move," I step to the side as he stacks the books one at a time until he's taken enough that it allows him to reach the edge of the small cabinet by climbing on top of them. He doesn't look back to see if I follow as he makes a climb made harder by the act of still trying to cover his damaged eye.</p><p>Climbing to the top, I see Mono is using his body to shove the box blocking the vent out of the way and with that done, tries to lift the vent cover with one arm. It's my turn to be tired of his behavior at not wanting my help by grabbing the cover as well and giving it a hard yank. Not expecting this, Mono falls on his butt and a passing glance is all I give him as I take the lead once more.</p><p>Crawling through the vent is uneventful but when I drop out the end of it and onto the top of a bookshelf I finally see with my own eyes the teacher that the class rep was waiting for. Peaking over the edge I'm surprised by how plain she looks, excluding the dead eyed stare and that her neck isn't stretched out in the weird way I saw her shadow cast against the wall, when Mono and I first climbed into the school.</p><p>A thump behind me let's me know that Mono has dropped down and a quick peak by him is all it takes before he's backing himself into the corner. His breathing is quick and shallow as he tries to place himself as out of sight as he possibly can. Did he run into her when we were split up?</p><p>Ignoring him for now I start looking around for a way out since the way we came in is too high for us to go back. There's a vent cover across the room, but no apparent way to reach it. At least until I spy a crank like the one with the piano from earlier, with a rope running from it and attached to some kind of lift above us.</p><p>I'd go down there and turn it myself, but if it's anything like the last one I won't be able to do it on my own. Turning towards Mono, I crouch next to him and start whispering, "We need to-"</p><p>His hand shoots out to cover my mouth without warning. In a panic I pry it off my face and feel my own clenching into fists but go no further as he holds up a finger to his mouth, signaling me to be quiet. He scoots to the edge of the bookshelf we're on, points at the teacher, then pokes the side of his head where an ear would be a couple times.</p><p>Be quiet because she has good hearing? Mono had to of crossed paths with her after all if she's makeing him this nervous. Still, the song she's playing should cover most of the noise we're making. Since we're both on the edge I point out the crank and the lift above us then to both us and finally back at the crank. I get the impression Mono doesn't like this as I watch him bump his fist against his head until, resolving himself with what has to be done, he places both his hands at his side, comes close to my ear and barely at the level of a whisper says, "Stay."</p><p>I'm confused as to why he would do this alone until I hear the thump of him landing on the cabinet below us. He must want to keep the noise to a minimum and the best way to do that is if only one of us is making noise. It's still nerve racking to watch as he jumps down the rest of the way and creeps behind the teacher without anywhere to hide until he reaches the crank.</p><p>The lift slowly lowers as I watch Mono spin the crank and everything seems to be going fine until the beat of the song that's been playing is broken by misplayed notes. Mono couldn't have expected this as he spins the crank for a moment too long and a tiny squeak escapes from it.</p><p>The sound of bones cracking fills the room while I spy on the teacher in horror. Her head begins to turn as she looks for the source of the noise, Mono, who has hidden behind a small bin on wheels. My earlier view of how plain she looks is shattered when she doesn't turn her head back to check the other side of the room but rather keeps rotating until it has spun in a complete circle. It is only when she begins playing again that I breathe a sigh of relief and see that Mono is spinning the crank once more.</p><p>With the lift lowered enough for me to reach I can see Mono pushing the bin he hid behind earlier towards the small cabinet he jumped from. There's no point in standing here so hopping on the lift, I make my way across to the vent cover. Just like before, this one is too heavy for one of us to lift on our own so I can only watch Mono until he catches up.</p><p>He's using both of his hands now to climb up the side of the bookshelf. I wonder if the pain in his eye has died down some or if he's getting used to it? Could be neither, he seemed pretty scared and even I know how the fear of dying can help with ignoring the worst pains, at least for a little while.</p><p>When he's finally made his way across the lift there is no hesitation as he joins me in lifting the vent cover. Unfortunately for us this one is stiff and doesn't want to budge. Pulling hard as we can it comes unstuck... and bangs against the top of the wall, flinging us away and onto our backs.</p><p>The song that was playing comes to a terrifying stop with the smashing of piano keys. Sounds of cracking bones echo throughout the room once more as I'm greeted with the monstrous upside down view of the teacher, who's neck has stretched to a seemingly impossible length stare down at us. A sneer which displays a row of sharpened teeth and an enraged scream is all the encouragement we need to scramble to our feet and make for the vent.</p><p>We practically trip over each other running into the opening, the sound of the teachers jaw clacking as she bites the space we just were follows us. In our blind panic we crash into a metal grate that blocks our way forward. Behind, the teacher is staring at us from the opening of the vent but that's okay, it's not like she can fit-</p><p>This thought dies as my breath hitches at the sight of the teacher forcing her head through the opening, bending the metal of the shaft as her teeth come closer. Mono and I begin pushing our shoulders into the grate which is coming loose but not fast enough. With the teacher's head almost on us there's nothing I can do to fight back and my only hope is that the end will be quick.</p><p>Refusing to make it easy for her, Mono shocks me when out of his pocket he pulls the scissors that belonged to the class rep. He kept them after he finished her off and now buys us extra time by dashing forward and jamming them into the teacher's eye.</p><p>"RRRRAAAAUUUGGHHHH!"</p><p>My ears are ringing as she pulls away with a scream, ripping the scissors out of Mono's hand but also giving him enough space to run back and ram his shoulder into the grate which gives way. With no time to waste I run ahead as Mono gets back to his feet while the growling snap of teeth from the teacher follows us once more.</p><p>The shaft ahead goes straight up but thankfully there are rungs to grab which doesn't leave us trapped. I climb to the top and run forward as I see light from an opening at the end of the shaft. In my haste I notice the gap that drops down before it reaches this exit but with nothing to lose I jump for it, catching the edge of the opening. Pulling myself up and staring out, I can see the Pale City in the midst of a storm. And below, a small roof that angles downward should allow Mono and I to slide out of here and be done with this school.</p><p>Mono...</p><p>Looking back from where I came, I see that Mono has just reached the top of the rungs. The teacher is on his heels as he runs towards me and fearing he won't notice the gap between us in his rush to escape I put out my hand and scream, "Jump!"</p><p>He makes the leap and I grab his hand. Unfortunately, there was no time to notice the vent we ran through widens out before the jump and with nothing to slow the teacher her head surges toward us, faster than it had before. No time to think, I yank us backwards and away from the teacher's teeth. But much like us, my idea of sliding down the roof to our escape flies out the window. We tumble out of the exit landing hard on the roof and roll down towards the edge.</p><p>Falling is unavoidable now. I clench my eyes shut and tense up as I expect to hit the pavement. But I do not land on the hard ground, split open like a blood filled balloon of flesh. An icy wetness envelops me as I sink into a pool of freezing water, shocking me into taking a lungful of it. The choking pain is terrible and it feels entirely too long to break the surface as I flail out, trying to grab at anything to pull myself out.</p><p>Finding a solid corner, I drag myself out of the water, only to fall out on to my back. Rolling over onto my side, I'm coughing up the water I inhaled and see Mono falling onto his stomach and hitting his face into the ground, causing him to cry out and roll onto his back as he covers his injured eye in his hands.</p><p>Ours are not the only miserable screams of pain being let out into this wretched city tonight as the teacher looks down on us, scissors still stabbed into her eye and neck rearing back to strike. Neither of us can do anything but writhe in pain as her head flies towards us with her teeth bared. But as dumb luck would have it, she comes no closer than the top of the dumpster we pulled ourselves out of, unable to reach any further.</p><p>Her growls of anger continue from above but we still can't pick ourselves up from the wet ground. Mono's staring at the teacher and between heavy breaths tells her, "You missed me... again." An enraged stare is all we're left with as her head retreats behind the roof we fell from, and does not appear again.</p><p>Uncomfortable as it is laying here in the rain it's Mono who picks himself off the ground first and slowly starts to walk down the street. I feel like he's abandoning me until he looks back and says, "I'm checking ahead," not offering any further explanation. Coughing on my hands and knees I can't call out for him to come back, even though he doesn't want to be near me anymore than he has to.</p><p>~</p><p>Walking down this street I've long since lost sight of Mono ever since he went on ahead without me. I'm shivering not only from the rain and cold but also from the stress of what I went through escaping the school and that I may be stuck in this horrible city alone if I can't come across Mono.</p><p>There are alleyways, shops and other paths that branch off but I won't consider traveling down them. Last thing I need to add to my list of problems is getting lost in this labyrinthine city which is indeed still populated with monsters. Not so much in the way of kids though as I haven't ran into any other children either. Maybe those three kids from before were the last people left.</p><p>With no one in sight I continue on until I come upon a massive space of empty nothing cutting across the street. It seems like an impossible void, a valley that goes on forever, and yet someone was able to build a small makeshift bridge to cross it. Too small for an adult, I have to wonder who was the kid both smart and crazy enough to make it.</p><p>Hesitant to cross a bridge that I've no sense of how sturdy or safe it is, I'm standing near the edge of the void as I say to myself "Where are you at Mono?"</p><p>"Hey."</p><p>The whisper near my ear startles me enough to nearly lose my balance as I back away from the edge and the person who snuck up on me. "Mono..." I barely say through chattering teeth as I add anger to the many reasons I'm shivering. My fists are not clenched with the desire to punch his arm because they were already like that from the cold. Not that he's feeling it given all the layers he's wearing despite being as wet as I am.</p><p>"Why are you sneaking up on me? And where were you?" I ask.</p><p>"I was checking out those yards down the way. Also, it's not sneaking up on a person if their head is so far in the clouds they've got water on the brain."</p><p>He really wants to go there? "As if you're one to talk. Whatever, are we crossing this bridge or not?" I ask him, quickly becoming irritated.</p><p>"Sure, you first."</p><p>"Why do I have to go first?"</p><p>"You're lighter. It just makes sense," he says offhandedly. As though this isn't incredibly dangerous.</p><p>Yeah right. He's just scared and I let him know that I know. "You don't have to hide that you're too afraid to go first."</p><p>He's giving me a dark look with his one remaining eye as he says, "The only thing I'm afraid of right now is running into another monster and going blind, nevermind that it wasn't a monster but the girl I'm traveling with who got me half way there."</p><p>He's always going to needle me with that, isn't he? As if I did that to him when I wasn't in pain and scared that the dolls had come to drag me away, finish me off. He could have tried to untie that rope I was hung with but no, I'm the nightmare that took his eye.</p><p>Frustrated and with reckless abandon I leave Mono behind as I stomp across the bridge. I don't have a death wish but I'm sick of being around him already. Thankfully the bridge holds but I'm not sticking around to see if Mono makes it across, he can manage that on his own.</p><p>Continuing down the same street I see a dumpster in the middle of it and that the road I'm on is broken and lower than the path forward. It's fortunate this dumpster is here as I climb atop trash and jump on to it before leaping the gap to the raised street and moving on.</p><p>Looking back from this point I can see Mono slowly crossing the bridge, his hand covering his eye and the other waving around as he tries to keep his balance. Why doesn't he understand that I don't want us to hurt each other, to hurt him? Shaking my head, I walk through the broken bottom of a door at the end of this path.</p><p>Wary of monsters I look around but there's nothing in here. Nothing except for a bunch of clothes, dry clothes. I start digging through the nearest pile to see what I can find and I'm happily surprised to find a new sweater that I quickly change into. There's quite a few shoes to pick from but nothing a kid could fit into, at least not just their feet anyway.</p><p>It's when I make my way to the other side of the room that I see the last piece of clothing I ever expected, a reminder from my past and the failures that I was running away from. That I've been trying to make up for. A yellow raincoat sitting near a puddle from a hole in the ceiling letting in the rain. It's just like the one that girl had who lost her way and her life at the Nest.</p><p>I pick it up and squeeze it in my hands as I can only wonder how the course of my life would have changed had I been able to save her. Would we have stuck together and become friends? Or would I have eventually hurt her the way I hurt Mono and simply delayed what happened anyway?</p><p>
  <em>"You didn't deserve the fate you had... I'm sorry."</em>
</p><p>Those words mean nothing to her now. But they're all I can offer besides the tears falling from my eyes that are lost to the puddle beneath me as I slip the coat over my head. I hope that my own future will not have such tragedies waiting to befall me.</p><p>"That's a bad color."</p><p>Wiping away the tears and annoyed that I've been disturbed in such a way I turn to see Mono walking away from the door. "What are you on about now?" I ask him, harshly.</p><p>He's barely paying attention to me as he's rifling through the shoe pile, no doubt looking for a pair to replace those that he lost crossing the river.</p><p>"Your coat is too bright. You stick out and won't be able to hide in it. It'd be better if it was darker. Something that could blend into a shadow."</p><p>He makes a fair enough point but so what. "Well I'm not switching to something else. Besides, it reminds me of the girl I once met that isn't around anymore."</p><p>"Yeah, I remember you mentioned her at the cabin," he says. Pointing at his blinded eye he continues, "I think I see why that is now."</p><p>As if I need him to throw all that in my face! His eye, her death... I never wanted any of that to happen!</p><p>Fed up with him, I start stomping over to Mono. He turns toward me right as I shove him over, landing with his back into the shoe pile. His arm is up in a vain attempt to protect himself because if I wanted to hurt him I could. With a glare and shaking my head, no, I put down my fists and walk further into the clothing store, leaving him behind with the muttering of crass words that were the only things I learned from my time in school.</p><p>"Fuck you."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Six Remembers: Lights Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The small comforts that let us feel what it's like to live rather than just survive do not endure.</p>
<p>Wasn't so long ago that Mono and I were crossing the river, sopping wet and frozen to the bone but shoulder to shoulder, comforted in each other's closeness and warmth. Naively thinking we were ready to face anything awaiting us in the Pale City. It was foolish really, but at least we would be together. Now, while I stand outside, waiting to see if Mono is going to follow me out of the clothes store I have to face the reality of just how fleeting our friendship was and the comfort it provided.</p>
<p>Our fragile friendship... shattered into pieces because of everything that has happened since we left the beach and ventured deeper into the Pale City. Despite trying not to, both of us have been lashing out at the other time and time again with feelings of panic and fear, hate and anger. So what if we've helped each other escape from terrible spots, survival isn't enough to repair what bound us now that I just threw away any chance of putting those pieces back together when I pushed him. All over horrible memories and the coat that dredged them up.</p>
<p>Still, I'm not even going to consider giving up my new coat because of this. Small comforts are something I'll need to provide myself now. And staying warm and dry is something I need. Even if the price is not being able to hide in the dark, or wondering if my once-friend will still be there for me after everything I've done to him.</p>
<p>It's only after waiting for some time in the rain with my feet growing colder while I wonder if Mono has caught a case of cold feet towards his entire plan, that I'm surprised to see him walking out of the store. He says nothing to me, instead looking at our surroundings, the chainlink fence with a piece of sheet metal blocking a hole, and the dumpster with a ledge too high to reach alone. His eyes eventually settle on me, but not in the same way as they'd seen me before.</p>
<p>Before he looked at me with eyes of curiosity and affection. The same eyes that became an eye of anger and hate. But now, it doesn't even feel as though he's looking at me anymore. It's as if he's looking through me, no longer someone even worth considering as a friend or companion for survival. A thing to disdain, that only has a use in making it possible to go someplace he can't on his own.</p>
<p>If that's how he wants it, fine, so be it. Neither of us is going to retrace our steps into known dangers that we've ran away from, so pushing forward is still the only real choice. And with that I gaze at him with my own hooded eyes, cold and mechanically I cup my hands in front of me to boost him up. We can be stuck here for as long as he wants to stay stubborn.</p>
<p>Being caught out in the freezing rain is a feeling that isn't worth the effort it seems. He wastes no time in accepting my help to boost him up and quickly makes his way across a roof. Walking over to the chainlink fence, I watch as he jumps off the roof and onto a different dumpster next to one of the vents with a heavy hatch we've found ourselves using time and again. But even though he hasn't been able to lift one on his own yet he still tries and doesn't come back to help me unblock this hole in the fence.</p>
<p>Guess I was wrong about his stubbornness after all.</p>
<p>Growing annoyed, I grab at the bottom of the sheet metal that is blocking the hole and pull back on it. I'm not able to tip it over but with a lot of extra effort that wouldn't have been needed had Mono helped me, I manage to slide the bottom of it across the ground. Crawling through the small gap that's been made, I walk over and climb up next to Mono.</p>
<p>Placing my hands on the handle of the vent cover I tell Mono in a venomous voice, "Don't even think about trying to leave me behind."</p>
<p>He doesn't look at me and with sarcastic malice says, "Sorry, I was too busy trying to see the path ahead. Couldn't spare an eye to check on what got left behind."</p>
<p>Make your jokes now Mono. But I've got a little truth you'd do well to keep in mind.</p>
<p>
  <em>"You're going to walk yourself into trouble and regret it when I'm not there to pull you out."</em>
</p>
<p>With the vent cover lifted up Mono crawls in. He has a retort of his own he tries to say beneath his breath but the sound of his voice echoes back as I follow him, those awful words still reaching my ears.</p>
<p>
  <em>"I already regret pulling you out of your own trouble."</em>
</p>
<p>I hate that I can't tell if he means from when we were at the school or even earlier... when he first rescued me from the hunter in that cabin. But what I hate even more is that I wish those words didn't hurt as much as they still do.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>Pulling myself through a window, it all but figures that the moment I find a raincoat we get out of the rain. That becomes my last concern though as I stare ahead into the dimly lit hallway of a building with a purpose I don't yet know.</p>
<p>Mono and I move inward, walking side by side not out of a renewed closeness with each other but an unwillingness to lead and be the first one to walk into a trap. As we walk past shelves stocked with blankets and chemicals, and under beds fit for a single person I notice a hall that branches off the one we're in.</p>
<p>Taking a quick peak around the corner I'm relieved to see it's barred off with a gate that's hopefully locked. That there is a solitary figure sitting in a chair further on, unmoving, is less of a relief even though it looks like they're dead. I'd feel better if there was no one else at all in this building with us.</p>
<p>Continuing onward and with Mono walking beside me once more, there's a set of double doors blocking the way. Taking one door each we push as hard as we can until they fly open. I gasp as I fall to my knees and watch Mono seemingly topple over the edge of an endless pit. At least he would have if I hadn't caught him by the arm.</p>
<p>Grunting with effort, I'm having a harder time pulling him up now then from before the school, when I wasn't as hurt and beaten down. Heaving back, and with Mono finally getting his other arm over the ledge, he's pulled back up to the safety of solid ground. Mono shows his appreciation by yanking his arm out of my grip and looking over the edge that nearly killed him.</p>
<p>Frustrated and gritting my teeth I take in the strange sight of the beds that are suspended above this void. I also spy an open door above us that we should be able to reach if we jump from bed to bed without falling to our death.</p>
<p>Leaving Mono to his own devices I make it look easy as I jump the first few beds, climbing up to the next level and leaping to grab a rope made out of bedsheets. Mono may have me beat insofar as having the strength to lift something heavy is concerned but I'm definitely the more agile one between the two of us. Looking down, I see Mono staring up at me and shrug my shoulders.</p>
<p>"I couldn't hold your hand for this, even if I wanted to," I yell down to him.</p>
<p>Shaking his head and with no other options I watch as he jumps across the first few beds before I finish climbing up the rest of the rope. The last few beds are easy enough to cross, as is the jump to the open door. All that's left is to wait for Mono to catch up.</p>
<p>He's breathing kind of heavy by the time he's made it to the top most layer of beds. I didn't think about it when I yanked him up but maybe it was harder to do so not just because of my injuries, but because his clothes have soaked up a lot of extra water, making him heavier. And with how much he's been getting hurt as well... I put my hand out to help pull him in.</p>
<p>But with a final jump he reaches out, and grabs hold of the ledge. He didn't need my help for this and I see now that he won't offer help that he doesn't feel needs to be given nor accept it if not needed.</p>
<p>While he drags himself up I check out the hallway that we've found ourselves in. There's an electrical panel with something glowing in it but I'll leave it alone for now. Further on is a locked door, rolling carts loaded with bandages, and an elevator door with an electrical panel. It's blinking red and appears to be missing that lit up piece that was in the other one.</p>
<p>Mono's footsteps are right behind me and before I can even start an argument over why he should be the one to go back to the other panel he plops the glowing part right into the panel's opening.</p>
<p>"Knew I was going to need that fuse," he says to himself.</p>
<p>The elevator doors open for us but there is no carriage to ride up or down. We're lucky though, since the top of the carriage is right beneath us and a set of open doors are right across the shaft. We both jump down at the same time, and immediately fall to our hands and knees as the carriage we've landed on jolts downward, our insignificant amount of weight being just enough to cause it to start plummeting if not for the cable barely holding it in place.</p>
<p>With the doors above us too far to reach we'd be taking this things last ride if not for the vent cover across from us that we both start frantically ripping at. Prying the cover off causes more weight to sit on the carriage that sounds as if it'll collapse at any moment.</p>
<p>I'm the first one into the vent with Mono right behind as the cable finally snaps and the carriage plummets down the shaft. Over my panicked breathing is the sound of a loud crash and the crushed hope I had of us sneaking through here unnoticed. Nothing to do now but carry on and hope this vent will lead us to someplace without a monster waiting for a victim.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>We've been crawling forward for what's felt like quite a while but any sense of distance has been lost due to the pitch darkness inside this vent. As I start wondering if we'll ever find our way out I hear Mono starting to gripe behind me.</p>
<p>"Are you going in circles or something? There's no way we should still be in here," he says.</p>
<p>Rolling my eyes I answer, "We're not going in circles Mono. How would we even be doing that anyway?"</p>
<p>"You tell me. You're the one who always ends up getting herself trapped. I should've seen it coming that you'd find a way to get both of us stuck in one eventually."</p>
<p>I'm not playing his stupid game anymore. Where he berates me until he can bring up his eye and how it's my fault cause I'm the evil child who hurts other kids like all the other monsters. We can skip to the punchline this time.</p>
<p>"You wound me Mono. But hey, maybe next time you wanna do something dumb like like trying to drop me on my head, you should just rip off one of my ears too while you're at it. That way, even though you'll still be half blind, when you talk to me like this it'll only sound half as stupid compared to now."</p>
<p>That seems to have shut him up since the sounds of us crawling through this vent are the only noises being made. If he wants to hate me for what was an accident and after I tried to explain and apologize then fine. But he's mistaken if he thinks I'm going to take his insults lying down so maybe he should try resenting me in silence instead.</p>
<p>But as it turns out, his silence is no better as I hear him pick up his pace behind me and I'm shoved against a wall of the vent. Pushing against the wall I'm jammed up against, I shove him right back into the one on his side and now we're both trying to crawl and claw our way past each other.</p>
<p>"Have you lost your mind!" I yell at him as an elbow catches me right in the nose, a small trikle of wetness runs down onto my lip. This is the third time my nose has been hit hard enough to bleed and the second that it involved him in some way. At this rate I'm the one who will end up being the one that loses their mind.</p>
<p>"The only thing I've lost is my sense of direction and that's because of you!" He shouts back as I elbow him in the ribs, earning a coughing wheeze that serves him right.</p>
<p>"Well pardon me! I didn't ask to suddenly be stuck in a shaft where I end up being one of the blind leading the blind!"</p>
<p>"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"</p>
<p>"IT ISN'T MEANT-"</p>
<p>The familiar feeling of cold metal beneath my hand suddenly vanishes as Mono and I tumble out of the vent and fall through the air. If I had time enough to process what suddenly happened I'd probably feel a sense of dread that this seems to happen a little too often. Thankfully, my body doesn't smash into the hard floor but rather lands on the soft surface of a mattress.</p>
<p>Mono also lands on the matress but the presence of his body weight beside me disappears as a small gasp from him suggests that he's rolled off of its side. Normally I wouldn't think this is that big of a deal. At least until I remember the beds we climbed across that were suspended over an empty void...</p>
<p>Fearing the worst, I peak my head over the side and call out, "Mono?"</p>
<p>A scream tears out from my throat as a bright light fills my vision, replacing the darkness of not enough light with the temporary blindness of too much. Rubbing my eyes, I hear Mono say, "There was a flashlight beneath the bed."</p>
<p>"So you had to blind me with it," I growl out.</p>
<p>His tone is flat and unamused as he responds, "I think you'll recover."</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>My vision has returned, though I'm still rubbing my eyes as we walk down a hallway with Mono leading the way.</p>
<p>It's good that he found that flashlight since there were no other lights in the room we fell into. Being able to know where we're going as opposed to groping around in the darkness is preferable and seeing all the beds and poles with bags of blood made it pretty clear we're in a hospital.</p>
<p>Or rather, it's more the case that this is a hospital in name only. Whereas the school was filled with bloody halls and the corpses of dolls, it had the look of a warzone. But with the way blood covers the beds and floor, soaking into mattresses and streaking across tile until whoever it was ran out of blood to leak...</p>
<p>This place looks more like a slaughterhouse, which I guess begs the question. What happened to all the patients? Whatever that may be I just hope I don't run into anymore dolls. One building full of the monsters was enough for me, thank you.</p>
<p>Running across another dead end of locked doors, Mono and I retrace our steps to the last hall that branched off from this one. I use this as an opportunity to grab a bandage from one of the carts that litter the hall and blow my nose that has since stopped bleeding. Clearing the blood out once more I toss the bandage to the side but also draw the attention of Mono and get flashed in the eyes by his light.</p>
<p>"Watch where you're pointing that thing," I tell him while shielding my face with my hand, and looking forward through spread fingers.</p>
<p>"What thing?" he says. Acting purposefully dense, he doesn't stop pointing the flashlight at my face.</p>
<p>"This!" I snap at him as I grab for his flashlight, causing him to jump back and turn it off. He's holding it protectively against his chest but I let him know something's going to happen if he shines that light in my eyes one more time.</p>
<p>"Flash my eyes on purpose and for no reason again. See what happens Mono."</p>
<p>There's enough light coming from an open door ahead to a room called "Admissions" that he must take my vague threat to heart. "Whatever," he mutters as we walk in, his flashlight turned off and placed in a pocket.</p>
<p>The room is surprisingly clean compared to where the patients were kept and the hallways leading away. Not much is in here except for some sort of machine Mono is checking out and a locked gate at the end.</p>
<p>We're lucky that there is a button that will probably open the door on this side of the gate, even though it's a little too high for me to boost Mono up to reach. But there was a chair in the corner of the room so we can probably scoot that over here together.</p>
<p>Or rather, that's what I would have suggested if not for the purple can that flies through the air and smashes into the button, opening the gate. I pick up the can that's been dented and turning around see Mono standing a little ways behind me with an orange one of his own.</p>
<p>"Where did you get this?" I ask.</p>
<p>"Soda machine," he says while tilting his head in the direction of the machine he was checking out when we first walked in. Holding the can beneath his bag near his chin, he lifts on a part of the can that pops it open and taking a sniff, begins to drink from it.</p>
<p>"You might as well drink your's," he says, wagging his can at me. "We haven't had anything since the hunter."</p>
<p>This conversation is surprisingly tame compared to the ones we've had. But it's not as if he's guzzling down a can of poison. Imitating him, I look down at the can I hold near my face and pop it open... only to have purple liquid shoot out of it, right into my face.</p>
<p>My shock is so complete that I don't flinch, I don't yell, I don't react at all except to look up at Mono. The can he drank from lies on the ground as he covers his mouth with a hand beneath his bag, shoulders shaking in suppressed laughter.</p>
<p>Calmly, I ask him, "Did you know that was going to happen?"</p>
<p>I stare him down as the hand that covered his mouth goes to his pocket. Looking down, he slowly pulls out his flashlight, then meets my stare with one of his own. The absurdity of the moment is only matched by how tense it has become.</p>
<p>"Well did you?" I ask again.</p>
<p>He doesn't answer me with words. But the click of his flashlight and the light in my eyes is all the answer I need. Rearing my arm back I throw my half filled can at his head and charge him.</p>
<p>My aim with the can was off but distracting and close enough to make him duck, and for me to get a hand on the flashlight. His own grip doesn't loosen, and we find ourselves spinning around in a tug o' war I know I can't win. But being the dirty fighter I am I kick him in the shin, just as he pushes me back with his other hand.</p>
<p>Falling on my butt, I'm quickly back on my feet as Mono backs away. He's rubbing the spot where I kicked him with a look of shock in his eye. My reaction was more violent than he expected and with an open hand I tell him, "Give me that light."</p>
<p>"You're going to break it," he says, accusingly but not wrong.</p>
<p>"No I wont. I'm just going to borrow it. You can trust me." I'm all teeth as my grin unsettles him enough to run through the gate he opened. As I give chase down the darkened hall I yell out to him again, "Come on Mono, don't you trust your friend?"</p>
<p>That gets him to stop just short of rounding the corner at the end of this hall. His hands are raised to defend himself as he turns to face me and sneers, "Trust? Friend? You lost both of those because of the things you've done!"</p>
<p>"Well you're not entirely blameless either!" I shout back.</p>
<p>"I did nothing to deserve this!" he screams, pointing at his eye and backing up a few steps. Starting to turn away from me, he says, "I looked-"</p>
<p>But those are the last words I hear from him as a light brighter than any I've seen before envelops him, causing me to look away. Painfully loud static fills the hall as I cover my ears. But looking forward once more, I see his shadow fixed in place against the wall as he stares forward, unmoving and trapped.</p>
<p>Mono has walked right into a TV, and I don't know what to do.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Six Remembers: Letting Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not entirely sure how to best write a sort of internal debate with oneself. If the formatting is wrong, well that's my bad.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>What have we here?</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The boy that seeks my destruction, who will only succeed in destroying his companion.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Boy who's remaining eye seeks a future he will never reach. The other, blinded, unable to gaze upon a past that will slip out of his grasp.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>You will forget this day boy, just as you will forget yourself. Trapped in an eternal recurrence of deathless flesh and a body spited by false respite.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Forced to make the same mistakes again and again and again and again and again.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>You will forget...</strong>
</p><p>~</p><p>"Mono... why have you done this?"</p><p>Even though I know he can't answer, I ask him this question anyway as I take cover behind the safety of a wall. Staring out at Mono as he gazes into the blinding light of a TV that lies just out of my sight, its static blaring, filling the room. But the truth of it is, this question answers itself many times over.</p><p>You ignored my warning that when one of us gets hurt, it could end up hurting other. You ignored your own after you destroyed the last TV. That we needed to stick close to one another, as much as we could. It seems pretty obvious now that close wasn't just a matter of being within arms reach.</p><p>And why would you ignore those warnings? So that you could hurt me with some cheap payback? An eye for an eye or rather the eye I took. Show me that hurting you should also hurt me, despite the fact that I never wanted to hurt you in the first place.</p><p>Why couldn't you understand that I was just scared at the time? That I was already attacked and having more pain inflicted on me would cause me to panic and lash out blindly. That in my eyes, clouded as they were, hands grabbing at me were probably ready to drag me away and add to my misery.</p><p>Why put yourself at risk by continuing to hurt me?</p><p>Why put yourself in this position by pushing me away?</p><p>Why put our lives at risk more so than they already are?</p><p>Why make me take a risk now that wasn't even necessary?</p><p>Why?</p><p>Why...</p><p>...</p><p>...</p><p>"...why bother?"</p><p>Mono is beginning to sway back and forth as I mutter this question to myself. The sound of static nearly drowning out the traitorous thought I've had, finally given a voice.</p><p>Why help him?</p><p>It's a question I didn't want to ask... because to ask it would mean facing the truth of how low we've fallen. Mono doesn't want to repair what's broken, doesn't even want me to be anywhere near him.</p><p>So why shouldn't I leave?</p><p>Why not give him what he wants? It's not my problem if the timing was poor, much like his decision to antagonize me. Needling me with insults and barbs that stick and continue to hurt long after they're said. Trying to provoke me so that he can hold some vague moral high ground when he strikes back at me.</p><p>Well look where that got you. The only ground you hold is that which now holds you in place.</p><p>As I stew in these thoughts of all the hurt he's heaped upon me, Mono has started to sway even more. It seems as though he's losing control of his body. And if he's losing control does that mean he's going to drop-</p><p>The flashlight that he held so tightly, to blind me and light his path forward slips out of his hand. It's fall is mostly broken by sliding along the side of his leg. Bouncing off his foot it rolls along the ground, stopping in front of my own.</p><p>It's almost as if his hatred towards me is so strong that even after losing control of his body, he'd still somehow find a way to push me away. So would saving him even matter if we're parting ways anyway? Why should I take an extra risk for someone I'll never see again?</p><p>I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know that I can't stand around here forever.</p><p>My resolve feels like it's starting to harden. Picking up the flashlight, I turn it off and turn my back on Mono. Ignoring him I need to figure a way out of here. Maybe I can fit through the bars-</p><p>The sound of a body crashing to the ground shatters my so called resolve as I quickly turn to face Mono once more. He's sunk to his knees, arms hanging limp at his sides and head bowed down.</p><p>He looks like he's resigned to his fate.</p><p>He looks like he's been defeated and broken.</p><p>He looks like...</p><p>He looks the same as the girl with the green cloak, back at the school. Captured by something bigger than themselves. Their friends, no longer there for them. Just waiting on their knees for the end that's sure to follow.</p><p>It's a position I never want to be in. I'd want to avoid it at all cost. But I have been there, haven't I?</p><p>"...is that how I looked at that first TV?"</p><p>Is it?</p><p>Angry and scared, pushing him away, and walking myself into danger. I was exactly where he is now. Only difference is my supposed savior didn't balance the weight of how I felt towards him against that of my life.</p><p>But that was before we constantly started hurting each other, almost as if that's all we can do. Before I irreparably harmed him, damaged in a way that will linger so long as he lives. Before, when we would keep each other safe and pull the other out of danger, no matter who was at fault, pushing forward hand in hand, together.</p><p>The volume of the static from the TV is rising as is the conflict raging inside me. I sink to my knees and try to focus, to block out the noise in a futile effort to reign in the doubts that have taken hold. My thoughts, lost in the past, unable to decide what the best path forward will be.</p><p>"I want to go back to how things were."</p><p>"I don't want him to keep hurting me."</p><p>
  <em>"I want him to let go..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I want to let him go..."</em>
</p><p>I want...</p><p>I WANT!</p><p>"I WANT THIS TV TO SHUT UP!"</p><p>Clenching my eyes shut, both arms squeezing my ears and curled in on myself, I scream out against the sound of static as I retreat into my mind.</p><p>~</p><p>An empty space upon which I stand, but do not fall.</p><p>Black all around, but not one of darkness. The color from my raincoat still stands out.</p><p>A place to collect my thoughts.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>"If I'm ever trapped in the signal or whatever the TV is playing you'd pull me out, right?"</p><p>Shattered silence, broken by the voice of the boy who's life is in my hands. Turning around I see him standing before me, not as he was when he said those words but rather, when he was at his worst. His wounded eye, leaking tears of blood, covering his coat and hands that hang loosely by his side.</p><p>"My, my, my, look at what you've done to this poor boy," says a voice that should have stayed silenced.</p><p>The class rep walks up beside me. Her head still bears the scars from when I ambushed her but no other damage remains. She points at Mono before continuing.</p><p>"I knew you were a monster, Little Nightmare, but to think you would torture this boy so."</p><p>"You're dead," is all I can whisper out as I turn to face her. Empty space is all I see but the feeling of someone near my ear and a whisper quickly tells me she'll never be far.</p><p>"Of course I'm dead, all thanks to you, Nightmare," she says from behind me.</p><p>"Then stay dead, and go away," I growl out as I turn, not quick enough to see her.</p><p>"But that's precisely why I'm here," she says from beside Mono. "To convince YOU to get AWAY from him."</p><p>What is she talking about? Why would I listen-</p><p>"I mean, why shouldn't you leave him behind. The moment this fruitless journey became hard he didn't want to play hero anymore, he wanted to abandon you. What a fairweather friend."</p><p>With a snap of her fingers, rain begins falling but only within the space Mono is standing. He's quickly soaked through.</p><p>"You leave him alone!" I scream out.</p><p>"Me?" she says in mock innocence, snapping her fingers so that the rain stops falling. She circles him as she continues, "My dear, you should cast blame where it's deserved. I never did anything to him. This has all been you."</p><p>I physically recoil from the truth of the class rep's words and nearly take a step back. Only to be stopped by her wrapping her arms around me from behind and putting her head on my shoulder.</p><p>"Just look at him. I wanted to torture him slowly in front of you but you've done far worse than anything I would've managed. Now that I think about it, I feel like I won even if I wasn't around to see it."</p><p>It's true. I wanted to look out for him but her words are true. I have hurt him in ways she never could have.</p><p>"I mean think about it. He's been beaten, battered, and bruised." Raising a hand she points at his eye and says, "Blinded and bloodied, all by his supposed friend, his only ally in a hostile city."</p><p>Turning my head, I finally see the cracked face of the rep and my own eyes reflected back at me by the black glass of her own.</p><p>"But the worst thing is how you've already betrayed him. To even consider something so monstrous as abandoning him when he needs you most." She shakes her head at me as I hang mine in shame.</p><p>"Don't feel too bad about it. Letting him die now will be a mercy compared to the misery you'll both go through if you save his life. Let his suffering end the way he ended mine. Just let him go."</p><p>Maybe she's right. Most of Mono's injuries have been my fault. And if I stick with him, he'll probably just have something even worse happen to him. I can't see him getting far on his own either so maybe he is better off if I let-</p><p>Someone pulls the class rep off of me and shoves me to the ground. Shattering porcelain fills my ears as I look to see who is bashing the rep's head in once more.</p><p>It's me in my yellow raincoat. But why would I be...</p><p>No... that isn't me. My hair never had a braid that long.</p><p>Turning around to face me, I see the girl who was the first person I ever tried to save. My first sefless act. My first failure. The girl from the Nest.</p><p>Walking up to me, she grabs my hand and hauls me back up to my feet. Her expression is one of anger and disappointment as she stares into my eyes.</p><p>Is she here to let me know I'm going to fail Mono as well? Fail him the same way I failed her. Are all the failures that have haunted me going to make an appearance?</p><p>Tears are starting to form at the corner of my eyes as I ask, "Why are-"</p><p>The sound of flesh being struck cuts off my question as my head snaps to the side. My cheek is burning from the slap I've just taken.</p><p>"When did you become such a coward, a slave to your doubts, yellow as the coat you wear?"</p><p>"I-"</p><p>My face feels the sting of another slap. The taste of blood fills my mouth.</p><p>"What happened to the girl who was ready to pull her friend out of any danger? Who had his back, who was willing to sacrifice for the boy who saved her life. To give him a chance at finding the same sort of peace she wants for herself."</p><p>I could have separated from Mono when we were at the beach. Wished him well on his journey and parted ways. He helped me though, so I wanted to help him. But I've already failed him when I considered letting him die. Just like I failed her.</p><p>"It doesn't matter. All that ever happens is that the children around me get hurt. I've blinded Mono, I couldn't do anything for the kids at the school, I didn't save you... I'm the one who's a pretender, thinking I can help anyone."</p><p>I flinch and shut my eyes as I see her hand coming towards my face. But pain does not burn my nerves once more. Rather, I feel delicate fingers placed under my chin so that they can raise my head, and meet her eyes. Eyes filled not with disgust... but sympathy.</p><p>"You couldn't have known the Pretender would survive Six. You did everything you possibly could have in that moment. It wasn't your fault that you couldn't stop that monster who's powers allowed her to reach me."</p><p>She's just saying that. I know how horribly I've failed those around me.</p><p>"Don't, I know it's my fault that you died. That I'm to blame," I say.</p><p>"Hey! I'm not blameless either. I wasn't taken to the Nest, I landed there. I shut you out of that shed and separated us, so maybe I'm not the person you thought I was. Maybe... maybe I was just a scared kid who made mistakes. Mistakes that cost me my life and the chance to make a friend.</p><p>I see my own eyes gazing back at me as I look into hers. Were we always so similar? Or was I filling in the blanks, lamenting over the death of a child I never really had a chance to know?</p><p>"We had our chance and it was taken away. Don't throw away the one you have with Mono. You've fought for him, you were ready to die if it meant helping him escape that school. Does he know? Do you know what he went through to find you? Maybe he's as scared as I was... and as you are."</p><p>I don't know what he went through. All I know is how we reconciled before being split up. Dying children, fighting the dolls, and hurting him out of fear. Was he scared by the pain in the same way I was? Is that what's fueling his anger?</p><p>"Don't you owe it to each other to find out?"</p><p>"...maybe you're right," I say.</p><p>"Maybe she's wrong!" screams the rep who's been gathering the pieces of her head, putting them back in place. "Maybe it doesn't matter because just like the children who hurt the dolls at the school, he'll hurt you in ways you don't deserve. Maybe you're just giving him a chance to betray you. TO ABANDON YOU WHEN YOU'LL NEED HIM MOST!"</p><p>The girl from the Nest is beside the rep, dragging her away by the feet as she claws out at me. I'm given parting words from the girl who I failed to save, but who's advice might have saved someone she never met.</p><p>"It's your choice Six. Stick with him or leave, you can't know if what will happen is going to be good or bad. But it's your choice."</p><p>My choice. Both of them have vanished, leaving me with Mono, and my choice. The figure of Mono hasn't said anything except for his first question, and whether he could put his trust in me. Leave his life in my hands.</p><p>...</p><p>I don't want to be abandoned. I told him to not even think of leaving me behind only to find myself agonizing over that same thought towards him. But whether or not he actually will abandon me, it isn't my place to force the decision on his behalf. Even if that's exactly what I'm doing now.</p><p>And so...</p><p>I begin walking towards the boy who I've shared experiences with. Shared insults, and shared warmth, shared each others past and pain. Shared risks and shared rescues.</p><p>I walk past him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And turn around so that I can wrap my arms around and embrace him from behind. Ready to save him, I place my forehead against his shoulder and tell him,</p><p>"I'm not letting go."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For the sake of clarity, Class Rep and Yellow raincoat girl aren't so much the "spirits" of those characters as they are a way to do the whole angel and devil on one's shoulder sort of thing.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Six Remembers: Patched Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Dialogue heavy chapter in the second half. Here's hoping it doesn't come off as too contrived.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I'm not letting go."</p><p>Opening my eyes, I feel all the sensations of the world I blocked out coming back to me. A light too bright, and static too loud. My body sore with the aches and pains of coming to this city, facing death, fighting for my life... and his. Even though it would be easier to crawl somewhere and lock myself away inside of a room, retreat into my mind and wait for the eventual end.</p><p>But I have a reason to go on. To not be filled with the regret of failure. I told him he would walk into trouble and regret when I wasn't there for him, and it hurt when he said that he regrets saving me.</p><p>I hate how he's been hurting me, how we've been been hurting each other since I never wanted any of this to happen. But if I abandon him now I'll be the one filled with regret because he'll be a pain that lingers and follows, even if he's no longer around.</p><p>It's selfish and selfless, but rescuing him is the only possible way to stop him from hurting me. And maybe for us to stop hurting each other.</p><p>Looking up, Mono is still on his knees and staring into the TV. This can't be allowed to continue but I can't be reckless either. Besides hitting it with the other end of Mono's flashlight I don't even know if there's anything around that I can use to smash the TV's screen, much less pushing the entire set over.</p><p>Push it over, or maybe...</p><p>
  <em>You're going to walk yourself into trouble and regret it when I'm not there to pull you out.</em>
</p><p>Maybe I can pull him away from the TV, get him behind the wall I'm next to so he can't see it. It's worth trying if there's a chance of saving him with less danger. Then we can deal with the TV later, together.</p><p>Pushing myself up, I'm back on my feet and shift the hood of my coat so that it covers the side of my head, blocking sight of the TV. He isn't far, but still I squeeze my eyes shut. Placing his flashlight inside my coat pocket, I stick one hand in front of me and place the other over my eyes to keep myself safe.</p><p>"I'm coming Mono."</p><p>The blaring static increases in pitch as I slowly step out from behind the safety of the wall. Despite my eyes being closed shut I squeeze them even tighter due to the pain of not being able to protect my ears from the noise.</p><p>It isn't long before my hand touches Mono's shoulder. Grabbing hold of it and the rest of his arm with my other hand I pull so that I can drag him back to safety. Or rather, that's what I would do if I could actually move him.</p><p>Mono is seemingly rooted to the spot he's kneeling on. Even though I'm tired, I know that I'm strong enough to shove him down and pick him up. But no matter how much I pull he doesn't move. His arm, his body, I can't make him budge.</p><p>Is this what happened to me when I was staring into the first TV? Did Mono try to move me or did he go straight for the TV? I should have asked him.</p><p>Dwelling on the past isn't going to help me though and it's pointless trying to move him if the TV is somehow holding him in place. Taking a breath, I steel myself over what needs to be done. "I'll get you out of this," I say to Mono as I let go of him.</p><p>Adjusting my hood and pulling it down so my eyes will be covered from the front, I turn and face the TV. My head is held low and my arm outstretched as I walk towards the sound of static. Much as I want to cover my eyes I can't risk the possibility that there's some bottomless hole in front of the TV, so I keep them fixed on the ground in front of me.</p><p>As it turns out, there are no holes in the floor or anything else of note that would trip me up. Save for what looks like an arm with a hook in place of a hand laying beside a bench. But as my hand makes contact with the screen of the TV, my fear of falling is not so unfounded after all.</p><p>Where I expect the feeling of cold glass that doesn't give, I'm instead treated to the not so solid sensation of suction and numbness, as if I'm going to be pulled through the screen. In a panic I yank my hand away as though I've been burned and turn my back to the TV. Staring at my trembling hand which hasn't actually burned, I try to shake out the pins and needles feeling before grabbing Mono's flashlight from my pocket.</p><p>Squeezing it tight, I take one last look at Mono, kneeling where my shadow ends. With a shout and shut eyes, I turn on my heels and smash the backend of the flashlight into the screen of the TV.</p><p>Nothing happens and the static does not die.</p><p>With another shout and both my arms I smash the flashlight into the TV over and over. But no matter how many times I hit it, the screen doesn't shatter. I don't have enough strength to break it like this.</p><p>I've failed again. My resolve to try and do the right thing meant nothing. Breathing heavily, I sink to my knees beneath the TV's glow. Looking back, I curse the fact that everything I tried wasn't-</p><p>No... not everything. That arm with the hook, maybe I can use that. Putting Mono's flashlight back in my pocket I walk to the arm and grab it so that when I swing, the point of the hook will be what hits the screen.</p><p>This is the last thing I can think of to save Mono. With my back to the TV I retrace the few steps I took and with all my strength, I shut my eyes and desperately swing the hook towards the screen.</p><p>Too often I find that I don't get what I expect. My hand being pulled into the screen while the flashlight was not enough to break it. But this time... this time I get what I desire as the hook punches through the screen with the sound of shattering glass killing the static.</p><p>Getting knocked on my back from the force of the TV's guts exploding and being showered in glass is something I could've done without.</p><p>Opening my eyes and brushing bits glass off of myself, I'm greeted with the sight of the sparking, smoking, wreck that is the TV and the hook I used caught inside, hanging from its frame. But my attention is quickly pulled away as I hear the thud of a body collapsing behind me.</p><p>Scrambling to my feet I run over to Mono who's lying on his side. I call out to him as I shake him by the shoulder, trying to wake him up.</p><p>"Mono. Mono! Come on, you have to wake up!"</p><p>Unsure of what I should do I pull out his flashlight and sticking it in his face, click it on and off. But even this doesn't get a reaction out of him...</p><p>Is he even alive!?</p><p>That this question has to be asked causes my heart to race. I put my hand on his chest to check for a heartbeat but feel nothing beneath the layers of clothes he has on. Touching different parts of myself, I look for different places that a heartbeat can be found and find the hammering beat of my heart where my jaw and neck meet. With trembling hands I reach under his bag and place my fingers in the same spot.</p><p>His heart is beating slow and steady. He's alive... so why won't he wake up?</p><p>"Did I wait too long?" I ask myself. Did my hesitance cause this? It didn't feel like I was out for very long when I looked into the TV so maybe the longer you stare the longer you'll be knocked out?</p><p>Or maybe I've hurt him again. Maybe I waited too long and he'll never wake up. "I can't even say it was an accident this time."</p><p>With Mono not waking up and all the noise that's been made, staying here seems like a bad idea. But dragging him behind me into the unknown is also dangerous and I'm not leaving him alone like this to see what's ahead. So I guess I'll wait.</p><p>Gently, I roll him onto his back. I take off my coat, fold it, and place it under his head. And with nothing else to do I sit across from him, curled in on myself.</p><p>"Please wake up."</p><p>~</p><p>...</p><p>"You did this to him. You betrayed him."</p><p>Mono hasn't woken up and the longer I wait for him the more I blame myself. I thought that helping him would be the beginning of making things right. But if he doesn't wake up... that means this is the end. And I don't want this to be how it ends.</p><p>"Why did I hesitate?"</p><p>I never should have turned my back on him. Even if he was being a jerk that doesn't mean he deserves to die. We could have split up after he was safe. Hard as that would have been.</p><p>"He's going to die. He'll never wake up and-"</p><p>A sudden gasp draws me out of my dark thoughts as I look up to see Mono sitting upright, breathing heavily. But I can't bring myself to rush to his side, it doesn't feel right. So I sit and wait for him to collect himself.</p><p>He doesn't stand, but he does look around the room, taking in what's happened. Looking past me, seeing the TV I destroyed and behind him, my coat that I placed beneath his head. And finally, his gaze settles on me, watching over him. He doesn't say anything and after what I did I can't bring myself to look him in the eye. So I turn my head away.</p><p>"...thank you," he says, barely above a whisper.</p><p>"...yeah," is all I can say back to him. He shouldn't even be thanking me. Looking up once more I see him mimicking me, sitting curled up and no longer looking in my direction. The silence goes on until he looks over and starts an apology I don't deserve.</p><p>"Six, I'm sorry about-"</p><p>"Dont," I interrupt, "Don't... force yourself to apologize if you don't mean it." After all, ugly truths said in anger aren't made less true because of it.</p><p>"But you saved me. After everything I said and did... you still saved me."</p><p>"I almost didn't."</p><p>Mono's silent for a bit until he simply says, "What?"</p><p>"Because of those things you said and did to me I almost abandoned you. My back was turned and I was about to walk away. I couldn't go through with it... but I considered it and i almost did so don't apologize. If you have regrets about saving me they're probably deserved."</p><p>"I don't regret saving..." he tries explaining but can't even get all the words out.</p><p>No surprise, now that my ugly truth is out in the open. And it wouldn't surprise me if he goes right back to hating me. I still can't look at him as the silence stretches on and I wait for him to tear into me.</p><p>"I never stopped looking for you," he says finally. "When we were separated at the school after I shoved you back from that falling locker, I tried catching up but those dolls dragged you away before I could reach you. So I wanted to do the right thing and find you. I had to hide from the teacher and fight a running battle with those dolls in the halls, but I wasn't going to leave until I knew you were safe."</p><p>It sounds like he had his own share of horrors to face in that school. Staying quiet, I continue listening to what he has to say.</p><p>"By the time I found you I'd been chased all throughout that school and I had just gotten done killing the dolls that must have strung you up. You were... a mess. And I wanted to untie you but I didn't know if more dolls would be coming so I panicked and thought it would be better to get you down fast as possible and carry you away. Even if it hurt, I figured both us getting caught would be worse... but I didn't know what worse actually was."</p><p>He's shaking his head as he points to his eye. Letting out a sigh he finishes his story.</p><p>"Worse, was the regret I felt over the eye I lost. I was mad because if I'd done things differently at the end, saving you wouldn't have cost me my sight and so much pain. Worse... was how the regret made me scared, because the kids who lose a part of themselves, who end up broken, don't survive for very long in the Pale City."</p><p>No wonder he's been such a jerk. He spent his entire time in the school trying to rescue me, again. And I destroyed his eye for all the trouble he went through.</p><p>"I can see why you hate me," I tell him.</p><p>"Six I don't hate-"</p><p>I'm not listening as I turn away from him, facing the TV once more. After everything that's been said he doesn't need to lie. I stare at the still smoking remains of the TV until I hear footsteps approaching from behind. Mono sits down right next to me with my coat folded and on his lap. We stare at the TV and let the silence drag on until he feels the need to continue.</p><p>"I was mad at you," he finally says. "I was mad that you hurt me. The more angry I got, the more I hurt. The more I hurt, the madder at you I became. It was like my pain and anger fueled each other and all I could think was that you were the reason for it... so I tried to push you away. I thought that the less I had to deal with you, the less hurt I would feel. But it didn't help, all it did was put me in more danger when I needed your help more than ever."</p><p>That doesn't sound like an apology. But then, I'm the one who should apologize. At the very least I should tell him some of what I went through, explain myself. Looking at him I begin.</p><p>"I never wanted you to feel any of that. I never wanted to hurt you," I tell him. He's looking at me again as I continue.</p><p>"When we were separated at the school, the things I saw, what I did, and what was done to me... I didn't think I was ever going to see you again. I wished that I would, but really I felt like I was already dead. So the only thing I thought I could do to help you was to fight, not for my own escape but for yours. That every doll I killed and moment I distracted them was time for you to get out."</p><p>"All of this pain," I say to him, pointing at the bruises I earned on my leg, my neck, my face, "It wasn't because of you. It was for you, so that you wouldn't have to go through the same."</p><p>Shaking my head, I look away and finish my story, "It didn't matter though. You did end up finding me, but when you cut me down it just added to my pain and with how I was already scared out of my mind I thought the dolls had come to finish me off. So in a panic I tried to fight, maybe kill one last doll before I'd die. But the moment I heard you cry out in pain... I realized the horrible thing I did."</p><p>Rubbing tears from my eyes, I feel like I'm curling in on myself even more as I look down and tell him, "I don't want to hurt you. Why would I ever want that when you saved my life? All I was trying to do was prolong my own, and maybe save yours."</p><p>And that's all I can say. I know I've tried to apologize before and explaining why I did what I did doesn't give him back his sight but at least-</p><p>Mono's arm wraps around my shoulder and pulls me close. He embraces me with his other as he leans his head down close to mine. Drops of blood and tears fall from under his bag and stain my coat as he says, "I didn't know. I didn't want to listen. But I am sorry... I really am."</p><p>He's hurt me. We've hurt each other. Said terrible things and betrayed each other's trust. But in this moment, I can't find it in myself to hold on to all the bad things we've done to one another. There are already enough monsters out there wanting to hurt us that we don't need to be like them toward each other.</p><p>Wrapping my own arms around him, I embrace the small comfort that saving him has given me and hold this brief moment of peace for as long as it will last.</p><p>~</p><p>Sitting shoulder to shoulder we stare at the TV that nearly pulled us apart but also seems to have brought us back together.</p><p>I'm not foolish enough to think everything between us has been fixed. His eye is never coming back and the hurtful things he's said cut deeper than I realized at the time. But we can stop hurting each other for awhile, and that's a start.</p><p>Grabbing his flashlight that's been sitting beside me, I hold it in front of him.</p><p>"This fell out of your hand when you were staring into the TV. I picked it up when I..."</p><p>Nearly left you for dead. I can't bring myself to say how I nearly betrayed him but thankfully Mono doesn't bring it up as he places his hand over top my own.</p><p>"It's alright," he says. Picking my folded raincoat up from off his lap, he passes it back to me and says, "Thanks for letting me borrow this. Sorry about the stains"</p><p>I shake my head and smile as I stand up and slip it on. That done, I grab his hand and pull him up to his feet. We've been sitting here for long enough.</p><p>Looking around for the first time, our only paths are the staircase going up and a hall with a sign that says radiology and crematory. I guess we might as well check out what's upstairs first.</p><p>We make our way up and the elevator is seemingly out of order if not for the two fuses that are missing, but I'd be hesitant to take an elevator in this place given our experience with the last one. Since that isn't an option we split up to check out the other two doors up here.</p><p>"Mono, this one needs a key!" I yell out from mine.</p><p>"A fuse over here!" he yells back.</p><p>Grumbling to myself over how nothing can be simple I meet him back at the stairs so that we can check out whatever this radiology hall is. As we're walking to it, I notice he has something in his hand and pockets that he must have grabbed while we were upstairs.</p><p>"What do you have there?" I ask</p><p>"Peroxide."</p><p>"What's it for?"</p><p>"Something that isn't going to be pleasant," is all he says.</p><p>Walking past a different elevator, the two of us nearly have heart attacks as we fall backwards out of the radiology room and the giant machine sitting in the middle of it. Mono volunteers to peak around the corner and laughing to himself, tells me what had us jumping out of our skin.</p><p>"I don't think it's a TV," he says.</p><p>"Are you sure?"</p><p>Walking inside the room he says, "Pretty sure. I think it takes pictures of bones or something. That or someone had a really weird photo collection."</p><p>Following him inside I see what he means as there are a lot of photos of bones. I don't look at them too closely but the few I notice seem to have something wrong with them, cracked and snapped in half as they are.</p><p>The final room is the last thing I expect given the small furniture and all the toys that fill it. That the world is so harsh towards kids like Mono and I, it's strange to see a room that was seemingly made for people like us.</p><p>Mono has no time for toys though as I watch him sweep the table sitting in the middle of the room clear. He empties his pocket that was filled with bandages and places them beside his bottle of peroxide.</p><p>"Six, could you wait outside for a moment. I need to do something that I've been putting off," he says, unscrewing the bottle.</p><p>"Okay," I tell him. "Shout if you need me."</p><p>"I probably will," he says as I walk back into the room with the machine.</p><p>While I wait for Mono to do whatever he's doing I guess I can check out this room. The machine that I thought was a TV has a sticker on the side of it warning about x-rays and radiation, whatever those are. There's a desk loaded with papers that are probably of more interest to an adult. And on the wall are all of the pictures with the word x-ray and some numbers after. Each one is of somebody's bones, save for one.</p><p>"Is that a toy with a k-"</p><p>"GAAAUUUGHHH!"</p><p>"Mono!" I shout out in panic. Running into the room I left him in, he's hunched over the table gasping with his hands shaking. There are blood soaked bandages on the floor.</p><p>Mono's bag is also lying on the floor and I learn that he has short hair that is black. Kind of like my own.</p><p>Standing behind him, I place my hand on his back and ask, "Mono what happened? What is all this?"</p><p>Through shuddering breaths he tells me, "I was cleaning around my eye. This peroxide stuff is something the older street kids used to try and get their hands on whenever they were hurt. Because if they didn't clean a wound out it'd get worse than it was and kill them. I just didn't know how badly this stuff would hurt to use."</p><p>"Is there anything I can do to help?" I offer.</p><p>"...can you help me wrap my head. I think my hands are a little too shaky," he says, holding a bandage roll behind himself.</p><p>I take it and immediately tell him, "Sure, whatever you need. Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong."</p><p>Mono takes a bandage that's been folded in half and holds it in front of where his eye should be. Giving me the go ahead, I carefully use the roll of bandages I've been given to wrap around his head and hold his makeshift patch in place. Making sure the wrap isn't too tight but also not so loose as to come undone, I tie a knot and hope it will stay in place.</p><p>With that done, Mono puts his bag back on and faces me. The white patch contrasts quite a bit with his bag and other eye. But hopefully this keeps him from having anymore problems than he already does with the eye I ruined.</p><p>I'm starting to feel guilty again and find myself turning away from Mono until he takes my hands, grabbing my attention.</p><p>"Hey, we're good so don't worry about this. We'll get out of here together."</p><p>I hope those words hold true Mono. Just like your eye, I hope we've patched things up between us enough that we don't hurt each other anymore.</p><p>
  <em>I never want to think of betraying you again.</em>
</p><p>The best way to avoid that is for us to finish what we set off to do. And that means we should carry on with getting out of here. Walking over to the stuffed animals I smile as I tell him, "Help me bring these toys over to that machine. I have a hunch one of them is hiding something we need."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Six Remembers: I See Through You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This x-ray machine has got to be the wildest thing I've ever seen.</p><p>Because Mono was willing to walk in here first when we didn't know what this machine was, and since he also wasn't feeling great after patching up his eye, I figured I should volunteer to jump into the unknown this time. Dragging one of the stuffed animals with me behind the machine, I gave Mono the thumbs up to turn it on.</p><p>Hearing the pull of a switch and his scream of, "Woooaaahhh!" is probably the most childishly, boyish thing I've ever heard. And considering everything that's happened... I wish our journey would have gone differently, so that I could have heard it more.</p><p>Sticking my head out from behind the machine has Mono bursting out in laughter as I ask him, "What in the world has you so worked up?" His laughter must be contagious since I find myself starting to smile at his reaction.</p><p>Good thing we're in a hospital.</p><p>Getting ahold of himself, he's shaking his head as the machine shuts off. He waves me over and says, "You'll know when it's your turn. That had to be the funniest thing I've seen." Pointing at the stuffed animal I took with me he also says, "There wasn't anything inside that, so I'll grab the next one."</p><p>Tossing this toy against the far wall, I wait for Mono to drag one behind the machine himself. Standing in place, he gives me the thumbs up and I throw the switch.</p><p>Before my very eyes the screen goes dark but Mono doesn't fade. All of his bones are bright as I see what he looks like on the inside, except for his hand that sticks out. The switch from bone to flesh is weird and despite myself, I can't help but react accordingly.</p><p>"Woooaaahhh!"</p><p>~</p><p>The novelty of this machine has not worn off but as I toss another toy onto the growing pile of stuffed animals, I throw out my hands and shout, "How have we not picked the one with the key in it yet!"</p><p>Walking behind the machine with another toy, Mono doesn't seem nearly as bothered. Waiting for me to turn it on, he puts his own hands out as if to say, what can you do?</p><p>"We'll find it when we find it," he says.</p><p>Looking for this key has become tedious but it has also given me time to think about how Mono has made the search more bearable. I throw the switch and have another look inside of him.</p><p>Its only been a short while since we forgave each other and already I'm glad that we're not sniping at each other with mean insults anymore. Even though I can't see it, I know he has enough of a heart to accept my apology. But the more I stare at him with that stuffed toy through the screen of this machine that bares what's inside of you, the more I can't deny the truth that has revealed itself.</p><p>"You've been lying to me, Mono."</p><p>My accusation is met with the ridiculous sight of him sticking just his head out from the side. He's a bag atop a pile of bones.</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>His eye is narrowed at me, as though he can't believe what I just said. But he's going to answer for the lie that he's been feeding me this entire time.</p><p>"Don't act all coy. I see through your lie now," I tell him once more.</p><p>"...what lie?"</p><p>"I think it's pretty obvious what you lied about. What you've been hiding."</p><p>Mono has a hand against his head, actually trying to consider what it is he's supposedly been lying about. He finally points at me with it, saying, "I haven't lied to you about a single thing."</p><p>"If that were true you wouldn't have needed to think about it for as long as you did," I shoot back.</p><p>"Six..."</p><p>His voice is a low sort of growl as he says my name, the only word he can get out. Since he won't admit to it I'll spell it out for him.</p><p>"I'm talking about your bag, Mono."</p><p>"...my bag?" he questions, deadpan.</p><p>"Yeah, your bag. You lied to me about why you wear it."</p><p>Stepping out and around the machine, Mono walks up to me, dragging the stuffed toy behind him. He doesn't yell, but his voice is raised as he asks, "I didn't lie about why I wear my bag. Why would I lie about that?"</p><p>My expression is deadly serious as I tell him, "You lied about needing the bag to hide what you look like from other kids. But the truth is you did it to hide that ugly face of your's. It's all skin and bone. Minus the skin."</p><p>Mono's looking at me as though I've completely lost my mind, and he'd be right. If not for the smirk that starts to tug the corner of my mouth upward. With an overhand swing I'm bopped on the head with the stuffed animal that he's holding, tearing a laugh out of me as I cover up to block further hits.</p><p>"You're the most ridiculous dork I've ever met! Jeez! I was starting to get mad."</p><p>"Sorry," I say. I'm still laughing but I can at least let him know I was playing around and not trying to make him mad.</p><p>Dropping the toy he comes closer till he's right in my face. Wait, did I actually take this too far?</p><p>"Well you should be sorry," I'm told. "Because you're the last person who should be criticizing someone for being skin and bones."</p><p>"What's that mean?" I have to ask, feeling a little defensive.</p><p>"It means that when we were bathing at the river, even though I'm not the sort of boy who would gawk at girl flesh being shamelessly shown I still caught an eyeful. And these ribs-"</p><p>I give out a VERY high pitched squealing yelp that is more girlish than I care for, as he suddenly reaches up and has his fingers running up and down the side of my ribs. Getting tickled is not at all something I'm used to and for him to ambush me like that is the last thing I would ever expect.</p><p>"-these ribs, didn't have any meat on them," he finishes, pulling his hands away with a self-satisfied laugh of his own.</p><p>With mock offence, I shove his shoulder. Laughing lightly, I tell him, "You say that but if you'd have tried to eat the disgusting slop that I couldn't stomach no matter how much it was forced on me, you'd look sickly and skinny too."</p><p>"I had to scrounge through dumpsters if I wanted to eat, Six."</p><p>"All I'm hearing is that you had a better variety."</p><p>This is the reason.</p><p>This is reason enough to have saved him. Not only because he didn't deserve to be left to die, but how could I ever have expected to feel the way I do now if he wasn't around. I stop laughing but I do look him in the eye with the warmest smile I've ever given someone.</p><p>"What?" he asks, with a sort of breathless chuckle.</p><p>"Nothing, it's just that..."</p><p>They're simple words but they don't quite drive home how happy I feel right now. So reaching out, I take one of his hands in both of mine and tell him.</p><p>
  <em>"I'm glad that I didn't abandon you."</em>
</p><p>With his other hand he places them on top of mine and says, "Me too."</p><p>We enjoy our moment for as long as we can spare but still, we have a hospital to get through and a tower to shut down. Walking into the playroom with all of the toys, I come out with a wind up donkey.</p><p>Mono gives me a questioning look until I point at the stuffed animal by his feet that he swung at my head and say, "That's the one that has the the key in it."</p><p>He rolls his eye and shakes his head. I'm told, "You're a menace Six."</p><p>He isn't wrong!</p><p>~</p><p>"Pull!"</p><p>How can this be?</p><p>"Pull!"</p><p>Why is it like this?</p><p>"PULL!"</p><p>Why is this stupid toy impossible to rip open?!</p><p>Our only way through that door upstairs and the key is trapped inside a toy we can't tear into. An entire hospital, a place of operations and we can't find a scapel or scissors to get at it either!</p><p>Taking a breather, I sit myself down next to Mono and lean into his shoulder. "It's always something dumb like this that holds us up," I say.</p><p>Mono hums in agreement but says no more. He probably looked down the the hall we came from since he tells me, "Why don't we drag this toy with us to the elevator down there. Maybe that crematory or whatever is in there will have something we can use."</p><p>Nodding my head, I stand up and grab the toy donkey near my feet while he takes the stuffed animal. I explain myself to Mono who's tilting his head at me in confusion.</p><p>"It's in case we come across a button too high to reach. I can throw this at it if needed."</p><p>With toys in hand we begin our walk back to the elevator. Mono breaks the silence with a compliment I don't really expect or know how to take.</p><p>"I think you would've been able to make it on the streets. You're smart, you'd have fit in."</p><p>Considering the places I've been I think I would have preferred that. Bumping my shoulder into his I tell him, "Maybe, but only if you were there to show me the ropes."</p><p>He gives me a small chuckle before saying, "I probably wouldn't have. I wasn't the friendliest kid back then. I'm still not quite..." he trails off, probably thinking about how he'd been acting towards me.</p><p>Looking at me, I give him a smile. To let him know it's okay. That he has my full attention and that I'd like to hear more. Much as I would have preferred to be in his shoes I know he's had a fair share of problems having to grow up here. Looking down and shaking his head, he continues.</p><p>"I shouldn't have taken the other kids here for granted, should have appreciated the one's who helped me more. I also shouldn't have been angry that everyday felt like I was doing the same thing, barely surviving. Because once the tower started causing its problems, everything was turned on its head and got worse. Change isn't always for the better."</p><p>We've made it to the elevator but before we go in he looks at me and finishes what he wants say with, "But sometimes it is I guess, even if it hurts."</p><p>If only we could grow up without the parts that hurt.</p><p>~</p><p>A horrible smell of rot is the first thing that assaults my nose as the door to the elevator opens. Walking in to the darkened room, Mono pulls out his flashlight and points it around.</p><p>There's a hole in the wall that looks like an overly large vent shaft with a lever next it. A heavy looking set of double doors with handles to high for us to reach. Open doors that look like they belong to a freezer and a bed with-</p><p>Both of us gasp and jump back a bit as his light passes over a sheet that is covering a body. Besides the strange oversized dolls in the TV room that did nothing, I thought we were alone in this part of the hospital. Reaching out slowly, Mono tugs on the sheet quick to see if he'll get a reaction out of whoever is laying there. Nothing happens, but in order to be sure I take the wind up donkey and throw it at the body's feet.</p><p>We only scream, a LITTLE bit when the donkey hits the floor and starts braying. I probably should have checked to see if this thing would turn on but at least we can be sure now that the body won't get up.</p><p>With that settled we walk further into this crematory. There's enough light from the elevator that I take the freezer doors while Mono looks into that vent. Except for another body I don't find anything we can use to get at the key. Walking back over to where the vent is, I can hear Mono's voice echoing out from it.</p><p>"Why is this filled with ash? Ash... SIX WAIT, DON'T PULL THAT LEVER!"</p><p>Mono's gasping and covered in dust as I see him jump out of the vent in the wall. Kneeling next to him, I'm concerned as I ask, "Are you alright? Why were you screaming?"</p><p>Getting ahold of himself, he says, "That's not a vent, it's an oven. And I was afraid you were going to pull the lever."</p><p>"I wouldn't just pull the lever on some machine if I don't know what it does Mono. I'm not crazy."</p><p>"Six, you stood behind that x-ray machine. All those pictures with the bones... what if it burned the flesh away to take them or something."</p><p>"Well then I guess whoever designed this hospital should have put it down here and built this oven near the kitchen instead. But since they didn't, lets consider ourselves lucky, burn that toy, and get the key."</p><p>We walk over to the elevator where we left our toys and grab them. Walking back to the oven, Mono tosses the stuffed toy in while I toss the donkey since it isn't needed anymore and it doesn't matter what happens to it.</p><p>I can hear it braying again as Mono walks over to the lever and yanks it. A door slams down with a loud crash, startling me. Flames fill the oven and the noise from the toy changes to almost sound like screams of pain...</p><p>"That's creepy," we both say at the same time. And as the flames die out and Mono waits for the inside of the oven to cool off I can only hope that'll be the worst thing to be heard while we're in here.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>